First trip with 8.8. Gushing fluids

[Assforkr]

Took a nice anniversary trip up to NH after swapping to an 8.8 and driving it around town for a week and not getting any trouble. Trip was probably four hundred miles round trip and about an hour into the drive an F150 short stopped in front of me and caused me to lock up the brakes at 55 and basically do a handbrake turn on the highway and ponder our existence as I watched the people behind me slam on their brakes out of my passenger side window. Ended up facing the wrong way but got real lucky.

On day two I got a faint whiff of gear oil.

On day three I crawled under the car to check on a parking brake cable that's been popping off occasionally and found a big fat puddle of gear oil at the passenger side wheel. Same day we were due to drive another 160 miles home. So I found an auto store and bought gear oil, filled the diff and hoped for the best. Stopped along the way to gas up and found that an occasional drip had now turned into a steady drip. But there was fluid!

So now I gotta rip the axle apart again to check the gears and replace the bearings and seals. Anything else I should check? What bearings you guys swear by? Seals? auto store rental tools?

I got plans to swap the 3.07 stock dana 30 upfront with a 4.11 dana 30 (already have). Likely I'll be replacing those bearings and seals too but the inner seals worries me because I've never removed the guts out of the diff. Any tips? What about tools or preferred parts manufacturers?

 

[KCsTJ]

Good grief!!

How did you ever keep your jeep from flipping???

 

[KCsTJ]

I will bet that you find your gears to be just fine and the axle bearings should be fine.
Replacing your axle seals should take care of the leak.
That's a good move, regearing to 4.11s

And wow, what a piece of driving up there ^
somebody upstairs must have been looking out for you. Those instant situations can be terrifying. Nice job

 

[Drizit]

Good job on the stop, I second the fresh seals fixing it up. Fronts are no big deal, you need a socket the size of the seal and enough extensions to reach all the way out the end of the axle tube and accross the diff.

Pull the carrier and make sure you don't mix up your caps or their orientation.
Put the socket on the extensions and use a hammer to pound out the seal.

To install the new ones seat the seal in its hole, use the socket and hammer trick to press it in gently. (be sure it doesn't go crooked) pop the socket off to get your extensions back, rinse and repeat for the other side.

Check the torque specs and make sure those cap bolts are correct.

—
There must have been a time
when we could have said no.

 

[Assforkr]

The wife actually asked me why i turned the way I did during our little drift maneuver and I’ll tell you the same thing I told her, if you think any of that was anything other than instinct then you’re waaaay wrong. Somewhere in the back of that reptilian part of the brain we all got there’s an autopilot that not only tells you how to counteract a skid but also apparently has the wherewithal to clutch in and take the truck out of gear.


No clue but you’re all absolutely correct. Waaaaaaaay lucky.

Also appreciate the support. Ordered the seals and got the bearings just in case. Thanks immensely for the info.

 

[Assforkr]

Good grief!!

How did you ever keep your jeep from flipping???

Wife is pregnant, maybe the extra weight on the passenger side lowered the center of gravity and kept the passenger side wheels down on solid ground. Of course that’s all nonsense since I outweigh her by a metric ton so must have been some cosmic intervention.

 

[KCsTJ]

Wife is pregnant, maybe the extra weight on the passenger side lowered the center of gravity and kept the passenger side wheels down on solid ground. Of course that’s all nonsense since I outweigh her by a metric ton so must have been some cosmic intervention.

Ah yes, the old 'lower the COG by getting the wife prego trick'... lol