Portal/axle/diff oil leak question

[compunerdy]

The only way to overfill (that I know of) would have been to fill it from the upper ball pivot. When I took out the fill plug it was gushing out.

It looks to me like the issue would be number 26 in this picture although I have not found this part in the parts book yet.

[compunerdy]

I pulled the fill plug on the other side and it poured out as well. This time I measured it and it was over 2 cups overfilled. I went ahead and pulled the assembly and I can see oil in the tube all the way up just like the other side. Not sure what to think now.. Did someone just somehow overfill both portals or did the seal go out on both sides. I did check the diff fluid and with the front elevated a bit it was about 1" below the fill hole (the plug half way up on the side of the case). I guess there would be no harm in just cleaning everything up, replace seals, etc and then fill it up and see how it goes. I can easily just get back to where I am without tearing the portals apart again if I do end up needing to change the seals.

[compunerdy]

I talked to Jim and he agrees that I need to replace the seals listed above. I have decided to hold off on that for now though and just rebuild the portals and run it all as is for now. There was not a ton of extra oil in them and the diff was not very low so the seals obviously are not leaking that fast. I had only done a short 3 min test drive before I started working on the front end initially to just fix the brakes so I may find a lot more axle work that needs to be done to the point that I would have been better off to just remove the body and do a complete rebuild.

Thanks for all of the input, offers for help, etc. I am very pleased with the level of help these forums provide and the kindness of the people on here.

[4x4Pinz]

I am surprised that no one has mentioned this. If the axle was put in too far during a previous repair or it might have just fallen out, there is what resembles a freeze plug at the end of the axle shaft in the diff housing. If this has fallen out the oil from the diff will migrate to the portals. The amount it takes to overfill the portals is small enough that the lose of oil in the diff may not be detected. In this case disassembly of the diff would be required to fix. We see this when owners get a little carried away and push the outer half of the axle assembly on too far which knocks this plug into the diff housing.

[compunerdy]

I did see the plugs and they look to be in place, either way I will look at it all at a later date.

[compunerdy]

Life has been busy so not much time for the Pinz.. I noticed that one of my plugs was indeed missing so the plan is to remove the front diff sooner rather than later but I rented a new shop so I need to get it put back together enough to move it as I would rather work on it there..

I am running into some issues though that I want to run past you guys to get some feedback. I pulled the hub off and noticed that the spacer ring is completely loose as in the new one can easily slid on and off the hub. I am not sure this is a huge issue as the bearing should lock it in place but I am not sure on that issue for one and then I found other issues.. When I took the snap ring off for the hub bearing I thought it was odd that it was bent out of shape until I pressed out the hub and saw that someone put a shim behind the bearing. I am assuming at one time the bearing went bad and must have locked up and spun inside the housing as I can easily push the bearing in and out with my hand and this must have been the fix they decided to use. I can also see wear marks inside the housing to support that at one time the bearing must have been pretty bad. Anyways, I guess I need to know if you guys think I should just get a new housing and hub or?? Here are some pics..

[compunerdy]

So I thought that was a spacer behind the bearing but now that I got it all apart it does not look like the case. Not sure why the C-clip was shoved so hard that it was bent out of shape and indented into the housing now.. Here are some pics showing what I thought was a spacer has a shelf that it sits on, not sure what the point of it is.

[djw]

Sorry for the basic question but...

If the oil migrates out of the diff seals (and axle boots are in-tact), does the oil make its way down into the portal hub? I have never been into the insides of this system and am curious "where the oil goes"?

Thanks.

[compunerdy]

Yup

[djw]

Yup

So when you found yourself with over-full portals (and low-diff level), it goes without saying you have leaking diff seals.

Another (probably extraordinarily) dumb q... When the portals have become completely full with diff oil, then??

A curious system indeed.

[compunerdy]

Since it can still expand back into the diff I am not sure what would happen other than your pivot seal would probably leak quite a bit.