First of all: 1991 XJ Cherokee Laredo, 4.0L V6, 4-door, automatic, 4wd, dark green, loves long drives in the woods and hates the desert heat, runs best at high elevation, has ongoing beef with CPS's. We call her El Jefe. That should cover the details...

So here's our present situation. Last spring we had an issue with a steering knuckle / caliper getting grooved out and stuck and decided to just replace everything while we had the front end more or less disassembled (ball joints, calipers, rotors, all the little pieces.) When we put everything back together we noticed that the long shaft / threaded spindle that attaches to the hub appears to not be seated properly (I might have some of these terms wrong, but I think I can get the point across with the photo.) It looks like it should be flush with where it approaches the front differential, there is even a little space for it where before we bolt all the pieces back together it sits flush, but when we tighten the nut on the hub it pulls this piece back out 1/8 to 1/4 inch and there is just a small gap on both sides of the vehicle, almost like there should be a gasket there or something (which there was not when it was taken apart, the gap just seems perfect size for a gasket.) We finally had the time to take it apart and put it back together again today just to make sure that everything is tightened down and in the right place, but can't get rid of this little gap. It's entirely possible that this is how it's supposed to be and we're just being paranoid, but living in a remote mountain area and doing all our own work, we just want to do our due diligence for safety's sake. We've watched about a thousand videos and all the work we've done seems very straighforward for people used to working on their vehicles, which we are (we've also got a couple Range Rovers that need constant attention.)

As the jeep sat over the winter (after round one of this repair job) we noticed that gear oil was slow leaking out of the driver's side and down the tire, but not the passenger side, and thought maybe this gap / seating issue was the culprit. So I just wanted to jump on here and ask if this photo looks right to you guys, and if not what might have gone wrong (replacement part just minutely the wrong size, for example...) Any ideas or input are appreciated. I just want to get this girl back on the road! The top part of the photo clearly shows the small gap I'm talking about and you can see below where oil leaked out over an extended period of time.

 

The gap there is pretty normal. That plastic part is only there to help reduce dirt getting into the axle tubing, you may even be able to push it closer in yourself.

As for the oil leak, there's a seal that the axle shaft goes through just before it locates with the spines, it may have been damaged during the job or has just aged and did not like being disturbed. I've never done the job but it's a differential gears removal to gain access to them.

 

X2. The oil seal is at the pumpkin end of the tube. It might have been damaged while you reinstalled the shaft. If it's just a little oil and eventually stops that you just got some gear oil in the tube when you pulled the shaft out and it's working it's way out. Check the oil level in the diff either way.

 

Thank you for the input! We finally found some good photos of the same assembly on a much cleaner vehicle and it looks like it's all pretty normal. Now the issue is cracking open the fill nut on the front diff, which of course has probably not been dealt with since 1991, knowing the former owners...

 

The fill plug shouldn't be too bad. Worst case, a small impact gun works wonders. Get the plug out first, before you pull the cover, btw. Same advice on a tranny, xfer case, etc. It really sucks to strip the fill plug after you pulled the drain plug.