Front Differential Leaking

[wn]

My son came in for the holiday and I noticed the front differential leaking. I pulled the plug and nothing is visible to the eye or finger. I also noticed a roar in the front wheel yesterday driving it.

I talked to a mechanic and he said it needed new pinion gears. (he did not even look at it) What about just a new differential seal and new oil?

What do you recommend? It's a 75 Cherokee with Quadratrac.

[ November 27, 2005, 01:01 PM: Message edited by: wn ]

[joe]

Put some gear lube in it first and see what the noise does. You may need a pinion seal too. If the diff still howls when full of fluid it's been run dry awhile and yeah the R&P is prolly shot.

[wn]

I am going to get some gear oil and try that....Thanks....

[83 BEAST]

where does it leak from... the dif cover or the input seal? eather one should be replaced. with the dif cover you could cheat a little and i've heard of people useing silicone to seal it. if you take the dif cover off, inspect the bottom of the dif for any loose chunks of metal, and inspect your ring and pinion as good as you can. makeing sure everything is good.

[wn]

I bought some gear oil and and a gasket. After taking the bolts loose I couldn't get the cover off, so I just put the oil in after putting the bolts back. It held about 6 oz. and it wasn't leaking. I tried it on the interstate at about 70 mph for about 10 miles and it sounded ok. There is some tire wear on the 31's and I think most of the noise was from them. I checked the diff when I got back & there was no leaking.

I think that part of the problem was where I put antifreeze in and spilled some and it made it look like a big oil leak from the differential. At least I am satisfied that it has oil in it.

I used this as an opportunity to teach my son a few things to look for other than checking the oil and antifreeze. He will be driving it back to Knoxville tomorrow and he will be keeping an eye on it.