Axle seals

[H. Badger]

Well dang I have a slow weep of gear oil, they said its probably my axle seals. Could this have come from doig a sleeve and gusset? It's a slow leak no puddling under the car but noticeable on the axle tubes. Looks like its coming out of the rosset welds hold the sleeves in place.

[robnoxious1]

[quote="H. Badger"]Well dang I have a slow weep of gear oil, they said its probably my axle seals. Could this have come from doig a sleeve and gusset? It's a slow leak no puddling under the car but noticeable on the axle tubes. Looks like its coming out of the rosset welds hold the sleeves in place.[/quote]

Might have gotten the seals too hot when doing the sleeves. If its just weeping It might not be a big deal but its something you will probably eventually want to address as it will likely get worse. Its kind of a pain in the ass cause you have to pull the ring gear crarrier to get at them and they are a wierd shouldered seal.

[H. Badger]

Yeah it's a full tare down. Wasn't wanting to till I do my gears and wasn't planning on that for another year. I will monitor it.

[garbageman]

I just went thru the same shit and I found that my axel tube was broke from the pumpkin who did your axel tubes? I had Bakersfield frame and axel and when they straighten the axels before they put the tubes in, it weakened the welds were the tubes were welded to the pumpkin and they started leaking and moving around. I took it back and they welded the tubes back to the pumpkin and now im trussing the axel with a artec truss. but you still have to go into your ring and pinion and fix the seals. I would just wait till you regear and add a little oil every once in a while.

[jcook]

I had the same problem after I sleeved my front end. Not too bad unless I park angled that direction. I have serviced my diffs a few times and checked how much oil I may have lost. It was a lot less than it looks. Don't plan on messing with it unless it gets bad or something else breaks in there.

[H. Badger]

Like I said its weeping. Not leaking. But was shocked that the oil was actually coming from the rosets that hold the sleeve in place in the tube.

I agree I'm goin to wait till I regear and add as needed which won't be often. Never even dripped off inbetween Washings. Just oil dirt covered tubes.

[abendx]

Umm.... who did your sleeve and gusset.... 4WPs?

Maybe have a talk with them about a poor installation.

It sounds to me as if someone pushed the axle seal when they installed the shaft, very easy to do if you aren't careful.

Repairing this is easy.... when you pull the carrier, just be very careful to notate the placement of all shims and install exactly the way it came out. You can make your own seal driver from a few washers, bolts, and some threaded round bar, or pick a kit up from HF for about 30 bucks (the kit looks very nice).

I'd try and get the install shop to fix Kurt... but of they give you too much shit, the fix isn't difficult.

[drilldaddy]

I agree on talking with the shop about fixing it. They should at the very least give you a very good deal on repairs.

[Desert Dog]

[quote="garbageman"]I just went thru the same shit and I found that my axel tube was broke from the pumpkin who did your axel tubes? I had Bakersfield frame and axel and when they straighten the axels before they put the tubes in, it weakened the welds were the tubes were welded to the pumpkin and they started leaking and moving around. I took it back and they welded the tubes back to the pumpkin and now im trussing the axel with a artec truss. but you still have to go into your ring and pinion and fix the seals. I would just wait till you regear and add a little oil every once in a while.[/quote]

This is good to know. Bakersfield Frame and Axle is starting to advertise to all the Jeepers that they straighten bent axle tubes (once they found out that a good amount of JKs are running around with bent tubes). I was wondering if this compromised the strength of the tube or its attachment to the housing. Sounds like if you have this done, you really need to strengthen things up and put some good welds on the tube where it meets the housing. Good info.

[H. Badger]

[quote="abendx"]Umm.... who did your sleeve and gusset.... 4WPs?

Maybe have a talk with them about a poor installation.

It sounds to me as if someone pushed the axle seal when they installed the shaft, very easy to do if you aren't careful. [/quote]

Sleeve, c gussets, and trackbar reinforcement were done at G&G. I have not talked to richard about it yet. I have been out of town so much I haven't wanted to bother with it yet.

Also I don't know if its helpful info for people but I had this done with only a few thousand miles on the jeep. So nothi g was bent or damaged to start.

[garbageman]

h badger was your axle bent before they sleeved it? and have you wheeled with it since it was sleeved? I have a long arm kit on my jeep and when Im doing any type of crawling the suspension is trying to twist the axle in half. So after you reinforce the axle with the sleeves the only place for it to flex is at the pumpkin where the stock welds are and thats where it will eventually break or come loose. I Know when they add the sleves they dont weld the stock axle tube to the pumpkin so they don't have to replace the seals. when they put mine back in place i had then weld the shit out of it.

[H. Badger]

Garbage man.

No I haven't welded them to the pumpkin, makes sense they wouldn't. Much easier not to.

No they were not bent when I had it done and I have only gotten to wheel a little amount since I've had everything's done.

I'm running the RK 3.5" Max flex so I believe they consider it a "midarm" if there is such a thing.

I'm off for a few days I might go down and see what they can do. I really don't want to regear yet.

Is there any way I can tell if the tube is breaking free for the pumpkin?

[Frylock]

the stock plug welds are just crap, I actually ground mine down as far as I could and rewelded them when I sleeved my axle. A few of them didnt even have half a weld pool in the hole. Also if you are careful and go slow you can weld the tube to the pumpkin without damaging the seals. Just dont do it all at once and make sure it doesnt get too hot.

Im assuming this is the front axle, if thats true there will be hardly any stress on the gears in 2wd so they wont heat up nearly as bad as the rear. Just make sure there is SOME oil atleast and you will be fine for months.

If you buy seals, I would get one or two extras, they dont cost too much and its really easy to mess them up while installing.

Its not too big of a job to change. I pulled my carrior out and marked exactly what bolts went where, how tight they were, and the order the shims went in. My front axle gears havent gone bad yet (knock on wood). Pain in the ass getting the carrior back in but really thats the hardest part. I had to make a press out of some all thread 5/16" rod to press the new seals in. Think I just used a old hole saw that happend to be the perfect size to fit the seals to press them in with, just ground the teeth down first.

[garbageman]

h badger

on my axle the welds were broke and small pieces of the pumpkin housing were gone were the weld was and there was oil coming out. so it was pretty obvious. Well and i had a inch of tow out which was really telling me something was wrong.

[H. Badger]

[quote="garbageman"]h badger

on my axle the welds were broke and small pieces of the pumpkin housing were gone were the weld was and there was oil coming out. so it was pretty obvious. Well and i had a inch of tow out which was really telling me something was wrong.[/quote]

Lol yeah that would be pretty obvious

[drilldaddy]

The Badger is just marking its territory man.

[H. Badger]

[quote="drilldaddy"]The Badger is just marking its territory man.[/quote]

LOL