Rear diff leaking

[Ruger]

"Argument?"
"Debate?"

Naaaa.
Temperature isn't a factor.
I said that, didn't I?
Yes, I did.

Fluid volume IS a factor.
Let's say you're about to climb into a nice hot tub and soak away the day's troubles, but your Malamute pees 6 ounces into your 40 gallon tub of water. Damn. You have to start over.
But down at the public pool there may be a couple of gallons of pee in a pool that has 500,000 gallons of water. (An Olympic pool has over 650,000 gallons.) You don't give it a thought, do you? You just dive right in.

 

[k-rub]

Yup that’s it.


So they did a new gasket? New cover?

They ended up just doing a new gasket on mine. Hope yours is a simple fix too.

 

[Guy]

So here is an update.

I pulled the rear diff cover and it became abundantly clear it was the cover leaking.

Number of observations.

The factory cover is so thin and cheap they have to put a reinforcing ring that is torqued onto it.

The factory cover has no gasket. It’s put on with a thin layer of grey RTV.

No wonder it leaked.

So I put on the new cover with nice gasket and torque it down in a cross cross pattern with a torque wrench set to 14lbs.

Don’t you know one of the top bolts the head sheared right off! Not the end of the world I thought..... so I center punch it and run a drill thru yet and crank in a left handed EZ OUT. It starts to back out... im pleased. Low and slow....

Then the back tip of my EZ out snaps.

Now I’m bummed! There is plenty of EZ out shaft remaining. Just the back of it broke off where my socket wrench was.... my drill chuck won’t grab it enough to spin it out and vice grips won’t bite into the hardened thing enough to crank it out. I have to think about how I want to back this thing out and then hopefully get the bolt out In the process.

 

[Gargamel]

A trip to the dealer may have saved you all this grief... since it was under warranty...

 

[Guy]

And what fun is that?

 

[Gargamel]

I guess you bought the right truck for yourself then!

 

[Robtor310]

So here is an update.

I pulled the rear diff cover and it became abundantly clear it was the cover leaking.

Number of observations.

The factory cover is so thin and cheap they have to put a reinforcing ring that is torqued onto it.

The factory cover has no gasket. It’s put on with a thin layer of grey RTV.

No wonder it leaked.

So I put on the new cover with nice gasket and torque it down in a cross cross pattern with a torque wrench set to 14lbs.

Don’t you know one of the top bolts the head sheared right off! Not the end of the world I thought..... so I center punch it and run a drill thru yet and crank in a left handed EZ OUT. It starts to back out... im pleased. Low and slow....

Then the back tip of my EZ out snaps.

Now I’m bummed! There is plenty of EZ out shaft remaining. Just the back of it broke off where my socket wrench was.... my drill chuck won’t grab it enough to spin it out and vice grips won’t bite into the hardened thing enough to crank it out. I have to think about how I want to back this thing out and then hopefully get the bolt out In the process.

Hmmm, can you just yank that busted EZ out or twist it to the right to free it? If so chuck that one in the trash and tap/twist in a fresh one and carry on.

 

[Truckzor]

Moral of the story..... the AFE cover should provide better heat dissipation assuming the thermal conductivity of the steel is comparable or better than the competition.

The aftermarket covers are almost always aluminum.

 

[Guy]

That’s what I am working on a solution too...

Right handing it out and getting a fresh one.

I just haven’t quite figured out how to get a good bite on it. I don’t want to snap it off at the base of the bolt because then I’m toast... new axle housing. Enormous headache and labor.

I need a good solid bite on the thing.

Hmmm, can you just yank that busted EZ out or twist it to the right to free it? If so chuck that one in the trash and tap/twist in a fresh one and carry on.

 

[Gargamel]

That’s what I am working on a solution too...

Right handing it out and getting a fresh one.

I just haven’t quite figured out how to get a good bite on it. I don’t want to snap it off at the base of the bolt because then I’m toast... new axle housing. Enormous headache and labor.

I need a good solid bite on the thing.

Regretting not using your warranty?