Leaking rear axle seal problem

ejay

ejay

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Had a leaking rear axle seal on the driver side. Pulled the shafts, replaced the fluid, bearings, retainer, seal, etc with Timken bearings and seals. They pressed on fine and without issue. No knicks, burrs, cuts remained when getting the old ones off.

Sealed fine for about two weeks. Now the driver side is leaking again. Vent is not clogged. No heavy offroading lately so I don't suspect any tube damage. Didn't see any either. Retainer plate torqued to spec and I used thread lock. Any ideas?

04 Rubicon. Dana 44.
 
Discs or drums? For drums, I thought the SOP was to flip the plate over when re-installing because it slightly deforms when it's torqued down, compressing the seal ever so slightly. Flipping it over allows for the plate to be re-deformed. I think, or something, and stuff.

For disc brakes, I know even less.
 
hear said:
Discs or drums? For drums, I thought the SOP was to flip the plate over when re-installing because it slightly deforms when it's torqued down, compressing the seal ever so slightly. Flipping it over allows for the plate to be re-deformed. I think, or something, and stuff.

For disc brakes, I know even less.
Click to expand...

Rubicon. Disc
 
Did the seal look like this?

1714153669645.png
 
ejay said:
Yes. Timken 9912S seals and Timken SET10 bearings.
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Just making sure, a lot of the seals advertised as Timken 9912S such as from Amazon end up with some other crap in the box that isn't correct. Not sure why you'd be having leak issues with that seal in that case.

No previous seal mark at all from the old seal? Usually they leave some sort of a mark that needs some action with steel wool or similar at least.
 
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machoheadgames said:
Just making sure, a lot of the seals advertised as Timken 9912S such as from Amazon end up with some other crap in the box that isn't correct. Not sure why you'd be having leak issues with that seal in that case.

No previous seal mark at all from the old seal? Usually they leave some sort of a mark that needs some action with steel wool or similar at least.
Click to expand...

I didn't see any. I cleaned the area and looked. I'll likely take the axle out again and look a second time.
 
Not saying you did this but I just bring it up because I have seen it happen in the past and it is just good to know. If you swap the shafts by mistake and put the longer shaft in the driver's side, it will start to leak again pretty quickly. The shafts can be installed on the incorrect side pretty easily when you do them both at the same time, you would think it wouldn't be possible to install the long shaft on the driver's side but it just barely kisses the pin and you think you have it in right but it is not quite seated. I have actually seen one where the guy changed the seal three times before he brought it to my buddies shop and we discovered he had the shafts swapped from side to side.
 
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gasiorv said:
Not saying you did this but I just bring it up because I have seen it happen in the past and it is just good to know. If you swap the shafts by mistake and put the longer shaft in the driver's side, it will start to leak again pretty quickly. The shafts can be installed on the incorrect side pretty easily when you do them both at the same time, you would think it wouldn't be possible to install the long shaft on the driver's side but it just barely kisses the pin and you think you have it in right but it is not quite seated. I have actually seen one where the guy changed the seal three times before he brought it to my buddies shop and we discovered he had the shafts swapped from side to side.
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Nope. Marked them when I took them out and double checked before I put them back in. 😁
 
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gasiorv said:
Not saying you did this but I just bring it up because I have seen it happen in the past and it is just good to know. If you swap the shafts by mistake and put the longer shaft in the driver's side, it will start to leak again pretty quickly. The shafts can be installed on the incorrect side pretty easily when you do them both at the same time, you would think it wouldn't be possible to install the long shaft on the driver's side but it just barely kisses the pin and you think you have it in right but it is not quite seated. I have actually seen one where the guy changed the seal three times before he brought it to my buddies shop and we discovered he had the shafts swapped from side to side.
Click to expand...

Now I feel dumb. I recently did my seals and bearings. I had both axels on bench and never noticed they were different lengths. Is there any viable clue or noticeable end play that would show if I got luck any put them back in the proper side. I don’t really want to pull to check if I don’t have to.
 
Only possible way to check (without pulling shafts) is to open the cover and see if the drivers shaft is touching the pin, if you have a locker that may be difficult. If everything seated and it hasn't started leaking you should be ok
 
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