Found fluid on my passenger side tire..looks to be a slightly leaky axle seal, not too bad yet. Just got my jeep back from inspection about 2 weeks ago and sunk 700 bux in it (trac bar, ball joints, u joints, brakes) so i'm a lil tapped out when it comes to "jeep repair money". Called my mechanic buddy and he told me to keep and eye on fluid level and to add a teaspoon of tranny oil to the mix and maybe add thicker fluid to help slow the leak. Did a lil searching on forums and some ppl mentioned that it may have something to do with the recent u joint replacement and the leak may subside. Any thoughts on this? Idk if there is any way to actually "slow the leak" or if im just wasting time til it gets worse. I'm a novice in mechanics and wouldn't do the repair job myself, although i understand what needs to be done.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

 

I had the same problem after a UJ change. Only cure was to replace the seal which sits more or less inside the differential. The seal is pennies but its a bit of a ball-ache to change as IIRC both shafts have to come out and the gears. Might as well replace both seals while you're in there.

Probably not what you wanna hear...

 

I'm hoping the U joint replacement didn't cause this issue. I mean, it woulda been great if they woulda replaced the seals while there were in there had they known they were bad. Don't wanna dump another 2/3 hours in labor at the garage for what coulda been avoided! Hopefully have the cash in a few weeks.

You think adding the tranny fluid or thicker diff fluid would help at all? I don't wanna let it sit for 2 or 3 weeks...i like driving my jeep.

 

It might just be a little excess fluid that got past the seal when the shaft was removed, in which case you shouldn't see much more leakage. You could try a heavier oil but I've always been one for sticking with recommended fluids so I don't know if its such a good idea. Its quite possible that the seal got damaged when the shaft was removed/refitted. If its a reputable repair shop then you could try the old "it wasn't leaking when I brought it in..." line and see if that gets you anywhere.

 

Yea, i'm hoping the garage will work with me a lil on this one. Guess ill clean up my tire and keep and eye on it...here's to hoping it was just a lil excess from the previous job and it will stop.

 

I actually have a leaking driver side axle seal on my dana30. I work at a shop and looked up labor for one and both seals.
3.8 for one, 4.3 or something for both.

It's a very brutal in labor hours.

 

Rear axle ? Brakes just done ?

 

Damn! i was thinking like a 2 hour job. 3 hour in the driveway with hand tools.

 

This is my front axle..and i just had brakes done all around few weeks ago.

 

Labor hours are different then what it actually takes to do it. It's an industry standard blah blah. Like how they say a brake job takes a 1 labor hour, but a skilled mechanic can do it in 15mins. It's how they get paid.

Here's a decent write up:
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthrea...=D30+axle+seal

It'd probly be a 3-4 hours job if you don't slack off at all haha. Otherwise plan a day around it.