8a8mfh

iTrader: (3)

seal leaks. I don't care but there is a light spray that gets all over parts of the bottom of the car.

Now it all started when I put in some 3.73 gears. 20 miles later the front pinion bearing siezed, I drove it not even a mile when I heard it. I had it towed home.
It wasn't that bad it was still tight, the inner race was just pitted. I replaced the original yoke that had the shield on it and used an older f body yoke with a flat flange. It always had a small drip on the torque arm bolt with the original 2002 yoke.
Is it possible it's leaking the same amount and is just not contained by the shield anymore?

jyeager

if the fluid is sprayed across the underside of the car in a thin line running side to side then it's the pinion seal. If it's just a general mess under there it's probably from the breather tube.

You don't indicate how much time elapsed since your bearing mishap and now, or how much it's leaking currently, or is this leftover from that incident?

8a8mfh

iTrader: (3)

Well I swapped gears and used the regular old style one piece seal, removed the two piece seal, the first seal leaked bad so I replaced it. Ran it maybe 20 miles easy all was ok. Then I attempted a highway cruise, 2 minutes into it is when the noise came and I stopped and had it towed.

I pulled the whole rear apart and cleaned everything. The front pinion bearing was galled and over heated. I felt I should replace the yoke and could only find an older style, I replaced the seal, front bearing and crush collar. Set the pinion preload to 20 inch pounds.
Now it has about 150 miles on it, the oil is not from before, I cleaned the old mess off.
There is no line it's just speckled here and there but it did drip on the ground.

Not sure if it matters but I also put an AAM cover on it along with the gears, and I did put the drainback slots in it.

I'm not really sure where it's coming from, it's not the cover, around where the seal meets the yoke looks dry, now around the vent is a little more oily. What would cause it to come out of the vent?

jyeager

I think almost anyone who inspected their rear would find it wet from seepage at the vent. It's not quite so universal to have it losing enough to drip, but that's not uncommon either. I've heard of people solving the problem by installing a longer breather tube.

I suppose it's basically windage causing it to come out the vent. If it's getting hotter than usual, like when you galled up those bearings, I can see more coming out. Of course gears to run a bit hot when they're new so maybe increased heat is the culprit right now.

8a8mfh

iTrader: (3)

I've been thinking about this, are you familiar with the AAM cover? It channels oil through the cover and into the axle tubes, and back out through the drain slots I had to make as per the instructions. Now I did notice the vent hole near by where it would channel more oil, maybe the cover is causing it to come out of the vent?
I did notice more leaking on the first long drive but I had it up to 110 mph.
I cleaned it all off again and went for another long drive the next day, slower than 80 mph and nothing has dripped on the floor after this time.

Now about my cover, I got it free. Looked on google to see what it was all about and found the instructions how to make the drainback slots. Maybe there is more to it and you have to modify the vent?
I don't know but I'll try a longer vent tube (like we used to do with the 4x4's).

8a8mfh

iTrader: (3)

I just tapped the vent hole and put a 3/8 (?) npt to hose adapter to a 10" piece of hose with the vent on the end, and stuffed it above the heat shield.
I got a good look at the vent hole, the oil channel from the cover is really close to it.
But I'm not sure if thats where it's coming from, it's wet right under the front of the pinion. yet it's bone dry on the yoke and rubber part of the seal. I even blew into the vent hole to see if anything would leak out.

I think it's spraying from the vent AND has the normal wetness underneath like they all have. I can deal with the normal but the spraying needs to stop.

Just got to find time to test drive it now.

Anyone have the complete instructions for the AAM cover?

jyeager

I think you are on to it. Report back after a while and let us know if the longer breather has solved it.

LS69TA

iTrader: (30)

I think 99% of these rearends leak at the pinion seal. I've got to change mine soon. It's filthy under the car now..so I might as well put some 3.73s in there while I'm at it.

8a8mfh

iTrader: (3)

Well it has no more oil spray, even up to 120 mph hot.
It still gets damp under the pinion seal but thats it.
It looks like it's leaking between the metal part of the seal and the housing, I'd usually put loctite on this and it might have solved the problem. I put this seal in dry on the outside diameter.

jyeager

Excellent, so it's now been demonstrated you were blowing juice out the breather tube.

It's also good to remind us to apply sealant around the outside of the seal.

OctaneZ28

iTrader: (6)

I'm having a similar problem right now....

There's a line several inches wide across the bottom of the car covered in gear oil. And it'll leave a few drops of gear oil on the ground whenever I park it too. Been going on for a couple weeks.

I put a different 10-bolt in my car not long ago which supposedly had a new pinion seal in it when I bought it, so maybe I'm having a breather tube problem??

Time to call a shop and make an appointment.