Leaking Differential

[Patrolman]

There are 2 ways to fix this. That is your pinion seal.

The proper way would be to tear down the entire axle and re-do all the gears. The pinion gear is supposed to have a pre-load that can only be properly attained when the axle has no gears in it. That is a lot of work and a shop would charge a huge $. Basically labor to re-gear the axle.

Other option is to simply pull of the driveshaft, unbolt the yoke, pop the seal out. Pop in a new seal, replace the yoke, and put in the driveshaft. Will likely wear the gears a bit faster if they are used a lot. Since it is a front diff it clearly doesn't see as much use as a rear diff.

I would opt for this option, especially if you think you might go with gears, lockers, or a complete different front axle at some point. No sense in throwing $ at it now only to change it out again in the near future. I assume this is a Dana 30 in a TJ... Will likely be seeing a replacement axle or at least upgrades in the future if it gets wheeled hard at all.

[Patrolman]

Good point that Brody made. I had forgotten about the oil weight. Easy trick. ALSO, make sure the diff breather is clean. I had a rear diff that seemed to always leak at the pinion a bit. Turns out the diff breather was clogged on the inside. Removed it and it worked great. There was a rubber stopper inside it that was stuck. I took off the cap and removed the rubber stopper. Only risk doing that is during water crossings the diff will take in water. Never drove this through water so not an issue. It was also a temporary fix as it was getting re-geared shortly after that.

[Pathrat]

Tye previously posted:

[4Runninfun]

well remember pathrat we drive toyota, fluids generally stay where their supposed to. rovers feel the need to mark their parking spots.... heavily.

[Pathrat]

4Runninfun previously posted:

[Pathrat]

SCRubicon previously posted:

[4Runninfun]

Tye previously posted: