I I have a Dana 30 lp and I apparently got a good bit of water in it on a trip I went on a few weeks ago. The last time I took it out it was making a horrible grinding noise from the front when it was in 4wd so I got home and the pinion seal was blown out so I replaced that and replaced gear oil and it still makes that grinding sound and feels like it's got friction and not wanting to spin freely. Any advice or knowledge on this would be appreciated I need my 4wd back

 

You have a wiped out bearing I would replace all the bearings and you might have wiped out the ring and pinion gears as well. It will take disassembly and inspection to know for sure what must be replaced.

 

Like said pulling the cover and taking a look...but you were just there. If it's toasted and getting hot you might need to hit the JY for another, they are not something we generally fix. Might be the only place in the manual where is says "take to qualified bla-bla", where I agree!

Was wondering if maybe the pinion bearing preload could have gotten messed up with the seal change. Seriousoffroad is one here who "knows things".

 

I just had this same problem last year but had a spare axle laying around so I just swapped it in and went on with it. But now I have stuff welded to my axle I don't wanna have to have reworked so I wanna try and fix it if it's fixable

 

if the bearing is bad and didn't heat up too much, it may be rebuildable. But if the bearing heated up enough to distort the area where the bearing mounts, scrap it as it can't be fixed.