Gear Oil Leak at Front Axle Somewhere

[xirdneh]

I had been wiping the oil off the tranny and checking after driving trying to pin down where the leak is coming from
figured it was the seal on passenger side so i pulled the axle out of the tranny and replaced the seal
that did not fix it so i tried another seal and that did not fix it
i never did carefully inspect the axle itself
i just wiped it off before re-inserting it
so i will be taking it apart again soon to check the axle surface that the seal rubs on
I'm hoping its not a crack in the tranny housing
the oil shows up on the axle close to the tranny

[Petros]

make sure it is not dripping down from the valve cover gasket or the distributor o-ring. often engine oil will leak onto the front diff/axle area.

Also, the front axle seals have to be pushed in to the correct depth, if not far enough or too far it will leak. go look at the FSM for the correct depth.

[xirdneh]

make sure it is not dripping down from the valve cover gasket or the distributor o-ring. often engine oil will leak onto the front diff/axle area.

Also, the front axle seals have to be pushed in to the correct depth, if not far enough or too far it will leak. go look at the FSM for the correct depth.

its definatly gear oil
i installed to correct depth

[Petros]

could be the front seal on the input shaft. that means pulling the whole trans, a big job. You might try the stop leaks that soften seals, sometimes works as an intrim fix. best try to locate the sourse before you do any major work.

Another common leak is the rear seal, and also the seal on the fwd/4wd input shaft, botho far back on the trans housing. It does not seem gear oil would make it forward from the rear part of the trans.

[xirdneh]

I am pretty sure its something to do with the front seal or axle as I have been wiping the housing clean and checking right after test drive. Its all coming from the axle to tranny connection. The manual says the depth of the seal is .331-.354".
I have a spare housing that is minus the differential so I put a seal in it to the correct depth and slipped an axle end into it so i could see what goes on. Even if you drove the seal too deep, say 1/8" inch too far, it should not cause a problem.
I have replaced dozens of these seals over the years without having a problem. On most I did not pay much attention to depth of seal. Wait, I did have a problem once where the spring on the back side of the seal popped off during axle installation, so now I grease up that spring pretty good to keep it from doing that.
I think i will pick up a new axle before i take it apart next time, just in case the problem is a bad surface on the axle where the seal makes contact.

[Petros]

that sounds like perhaps two problems, the axle itself (you might measure the dia an dept of the seal race on the axle next time it is out), the other is perhaps the diff bearing or splin is sloppy and allows the axle stub to wobble and allow gear oil to leak past it. seems if the bearing was that bad it would do damge to the ring and pinion gears pretty fast, look to worn splines perhaps. wiggle the axle stub while it is in place and see if there is much radial movement.

I have notices that often the companies that remanufacture the axles will run the splines through a machining process to "clean them up", I wonder if that might also make them fit sloppy. I supposes the sureface can wear some as it is driven, but there should not move much when in use.

That might be another good reason to only buy new replacement axles and not rebuilt.

[xirdneh]

third times a charm
i replaced the axle seal (3rd one)
and installed a new axle (not reman)
no leak
the old axle did not have any imperfections that i could see
it measured just a hair under what the new one was (in the area the seal contacts)