psu1xj
12-27-2006, 08:44 PM
Hey!
So I run an Ford 8.8 rear, its an '01 model with about 115K on it, and a Lock-Right No-Slip I installed about 60K miles ago.
Two weeks ago I started noticing gear oil spots on the driveway. Oil was leaking out forward around the pinion shaft and out the u-joint flange. All bearings and backlash still feel fine (no wobbles or roughness), so I pulled the flange and cover, inspected the carrier & gears, cleaned out the housing, replaced the pinion seal (wasn't leaking, just in case) and gooped up the pinion-to-companion-flange splines with non-hardening sealer just like the manuals say, buttoned it up and was good to go.
For 3 days.
Then more oil spots. So I pulled the flange off again and re-sealed the splines again with twice the goop. Buttoned it up again and made it about 3-4 more days before the leaks were back!
There isn't much to this system to go wrong! The oil *HAS* to be coming forward past the splines as it appears inside the flange/u-joint yoke and NOT from the pinion seal around the outside of the flange shaft where it sits into the diff casting.
There's so many folks running 8.8s, whether in Fords or otherwise, that I imagine someone must have dealt with this before. What gives? Is there something that can begin to go bad that could somehow push oil out through the sealant on the splines?
I hate to post such a low-tech problem to this board, but I've tried others and gotten no help. Pirate knows all, right?
-Sam
So I run an Ford 8.8 rear, its an '01 model with about 115K on it, and a Lock-Right No-Slip I installed about 60K miles ago.
Two weeks ago I started noticing gear oil spots on the driveway. Oil was leaking out forward around the pinion shaft and out the u-joint flange. All bearings and backlash still feel fine (no wobbles or roughness), so I pulled the flange and cover, inspected the carrier & gears, cleaned out the housing, replaced the pinion seal (wasn't leaking, just in case) and gooped up the pinion-to-companion-flange splines with non-hardening sealer just like the manuals say, buttoned it up and was good to go.
For 3 days.
Then more oil spots. So I pulled the flange off again and re-sealed the splines again with twice the goop. Buttoned it up again and made it about 3-4 more days before the leaks were back!
There isn't much to this system to go wrong! The oil *HAS* to be coming forward past the splines as it appears inside the flange/u-joint yoke and NOT from the pinion seal around the outside of the flange shaft where it sits into the diff casting.
There's so many folks running 8.8s, whether in Fords or otherwise, that I imagine someone must have dealt with this before. What gives? Is there something that can begin to go bad that could somehow push oil out through the sealant on the splines?
I hate to post such a low-tech problem to this board, but I've tried others and gotten no help. Pirate knows all, right?
-Sam