Now it leaks, now it doesn't...

[BigLakeDMAX]

I noticed gear lube in my driver's side rear wheel along with the odor of gear lube two weeks ago at 14k mi. Not a huge leak - just some spun around the inside of the wheel, brake rotor, and dust shield. I was going to take it in to dealer this week. Yesterday, I checked the rear end lube and it was full and it appears the leak has stopped - no fresh lube on brake rotor and lube spun around inside of wheel is now covered with dust but no fresh lube. When I first noticed it was just after some hard driving (I was doing some 0-60 times). Searching this forum indicates that some weeping is acceptable and that the seals are soft by design. Is this normal leakage to be expected under these circumstances? Would I gain anything by having the seal replaced or would a new seal do the same thing?

[1BADDMAX]

I had my left rear (drivers side) axle seal replaced last year. If I drive the truck real hard on twisting roads I can smell gear oil. It's not bad. I've also seen a little on the dust shield. I finally changed my rear diff oil last week at 50,000 miles. I drained out about 3.75 quarts. So I'm not losing much gear oil at all. Filled it back up with nearly 4 quarts of Mobil-1 75w-90. I'm not sure if they topped the fluid off when I had the axle seal done, but that's been nearly 15k miles ago. So far so good.

[ 04-27-2003: Message edited by: 1BADDMAX ]</p>

[IndigoDually]

When it comes to gear oil, a little goes a long way. I had a '88 SuperDuty F$%D that always leaked, it smelled, smoked, and flung oil under the body, yet it didn't use all that much.

John

[sdaver]

not to be the bearer of bad news but I have had a similar problem and it was not the axle seal but a crack in the spindle and the whole rear end has to be replaced. If you were looking at the spindle like the dial of a clock mine was cracked from 10 o clock to 7 o clock(clockwise)......could have really been a disaster.......my service tech noticed it when he removed the hub to change the seal......needless to say I owe him lunch at the least........the new rear end shipped on thursday hope to have it soon.........get them to check the machined area where the back half of the hub rides its not easy to see...........If the last part of mine had broken the wheel would have come off....badbadbadbadbadbadbadbadbad....results :eek: dave

[ 04-28-2003: Message edited by: sdaver ]</p>