Good thing I had the front diff axle seals replaced- Yeah Right!

[MTTwister]

Took the truck in yesterday for a leaky seal on the front pass axle shaft. They found that the Bearing - Spacer / keeper was broken - in 3 places and just about to trash the aluminum case! This should be a no stress part, but it looks like a porous casting POS.

$1.90 for part, $21 for Seals, $350'ish for Labor. but, in this case, money well spent I guess ( ok I rationalize).

I was wondering about the front end, 'cause I had started hearing an slightly unusual 'noise' a little while ago from that region, and when changing fluids, the axle shaft didin't appear perfectly aligned with the diff housing. We're about to take a 3000mi road trip, so I lucked out on this one.

Anyhoo - Just something else to keep an eye on under there.

[ 04-30-2004, 02:41 PM: Message edited by: MTTwister ]

[MTTwister]

Well, guess what! That R/F seal lasted a week - all in-town running around. Taking it back in tomorrow (Sat) - for a look-see, and a probable warranty replace. Hitting the road on Monday, so I guess I'll let them have it, again. Poop!

[Uncle Wally]

Funny thing is, it's an art to replace those things without them leaking again. Every Chevy IFS truck I have owned has had leaky seals. I've had it done several times on several different vehicles by several different people, and I've only found one person that can keep them from leaking consistantly. Unfortunately he works at a GM dealer. Although I am fairly confident that I could get him to stop by and install one if everything was prepared to do so and that's all he had to do. To bad your not in Minnesota. I'd steer you his way.

Waldo

[MTTwister]

Uncle Wally - I'm about to head out to Michigan on Monday. If This repair doesn't hold up, and I'm dripping again by MN, I may have to look you up. Unfortunately, I won't have my internet access while on the road, so bummer dude! smile.gif

[MTTwister]

Local GM re-did the R/F axle Seal this morning (8:30 SAT!) - Kinda hard to "Whine" with that kinda service. Just too bad they didn't get it right the first time.

Looks like the Slinger is now aligned with the housing, too. Might get more than 50 mile out of this replacement - (re-done under warranty - 8 days on last seal - so They ate the shop time! OK GM Ate it, but there goes the price of the next DuraMax smile.gif ) .