Rear diff oil leak

[kevinr]

Hi all,

I have a small leak on the rear diff, from the drive flange. Is this a job I can do myself, or am I better getting someone specialised to do it?

As I have also got a leak on the transfer gearbox output shaft, I was wondering if this could be related , caused by another problem perhaps, or just pure coincidence, either way, both need plugging.

A noticable issue I have when I change gear is it's occasionally a little rough on the uptake between gears, tough this gets slightly better as the engine gets warmer..could this be attributed to this in anyway?

I have checked the upperlinks, and get no noticable movement on the ball join, however, where they connect to the body, there is side to side movement..is this normal?

Tanks in advance

Kev

[rhydgte]

Hi the rough gear change (especially when cold) can be due to you rushing the gearbox (but also can point to worn synchro), I tend to change quite slowly anyway, ensuring the clutch pedal is fully depressed, if I rush it it'll often almost refuse to go into some gears.

I also tend to double clutch on hills when changing down to say 2nd for example..

Could be due a gearbox oil change, that can help.

As to the oil leaks, all depends on your mechanical ability really, I wouldn't find it difficult to sort, but would be naive of me to say 'its easy' if you were not very confident at tackling the job!

Just give it a go! Best of luck with it mate B)

[kevinr]

Hi the rough gear change (especially when cold) can be due to you rushing the gearbox (but also can point to worn synchro), I tend to change quite slowly anyway, ensuring the clutch pedal is fully depressed, if I rush it it'll often almost refuse to go into some gears.

I also tend to double clutch on hills when changing down to say 2nd for example..

Could be due a gearbox oil change, that can help.

As to the oil leaks, all depends on your mechanical ability really, I wouldn't find it difficult to sort, but would be naive of me to say 'its easy' if you were not very confident at tackling the job!

Just give it a go! Best of luck with it mate B)

hmm..will experiment with the gear change thing see what happens...I already did a gearbox oil change last week so that's all good (no large metal lumps either )

Mechanically, I am quite confident to try anything, partly due to techinical curiosity..mostly due to me being too tight to spend money on a mechanic if I can do the job just as well myself.

I checked hains, and all it says about the diff is, it can be done by an experienced mechanic, but really you should take it to a specialist...yeah..well I beg to differ

Anyone able to tell me what's involved?

[doda456]

The diff oil seal i.e. the one on the nose is quite an easy job, It in the tech archive somewhere,

But so long as you have a breaker bar, and trolley jack you be fine.

And dont forget to to chock all 4 wheels

[fender1234]

I would say have a go yourself, use genuine seals and follow Les's excellent guides for both seals

http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=7903

http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=18732

As for the gearchange, i find mine isnt the smoothist when cold so i just take it steady and change gear slowly until it warms up then mines fine.

[crwoody]

With an oil leak from both the Transfer box output and the axle input, I would suggest you check the bearings too, along with the prop shaft U/J's.

The seals may be simply worn out due to age and ingress of crud etc. but an out-of-balance prop caused by worn joints can quickly wreck the bearings and seals of the attached shafts at either end.

As others have said, changing the seals isn't that much of a job so long as you can get the flange nut undone. (A buzz gun is your friend here!)

[kevinr]

With an oil leak from both the Transfer box output and the axle input, I would suggest you check the bearings too, along with the prop shaft U/J's.

The seals may be simply worn out due to age and ingress of crud etc. but an out-of-balance prop caused by worn joints can quickly wreck the bearings and seals of the attached shafts at either end.

As others have said, changing the seals isn't that much of a job so long as you can get the flange nut undone. (A buzz gun is your friend here!)

Would that be a cause of a quite a severe vibration that appears at around 60-70 mph? been getting that for a little while now..was thinking it was either steering damper (which was brand new 4 months ago) or poorly balanced wheels as it was when I had my tyres replaced that I first noticed it...but to be fair, I had done very little fast driving until that point.

But back to the topic at hand, thanks for all the replies guys, I will certainly do the job myself, was a little concered removing items from the diff without getting some advice first.

The UJ's seem fine, I've had a bar in the join and tried moving them..absolutly no play at all, there is a little movement in both props, unless the handbrake is on, then the rear one is solid..all normal I presume.

[discomikey]

The diff oil seal i.e. the one on the nose is quite an easy job, It in the tech archive somewhere,

But so long as you have a breaker bar, and trolley jack you be fine.

And dont forget to to chock all 4 wheels

why a trolley jack?

in fact why a breaker bar,

all i used was the right spanners, a 27mm socket, a screwdriver, a lump of wood and a hammer, and a cable tie to keep prop from getting in the way.

mikey

[doda456]

When i did mine, they were done up stupidly tight, and had to use a breaker bar, with a trolley jack providing the turning force.

It works a treat though, and will undo most diff nuts

[teabag]

Things have changed on the later D1's I did my rear seal a few weeks ago and I have a bolt holding the flange on it was i think was something like 14mm and it was torqued up to 110Nm so tightish.

Also for anybody interested, you don't need the tool to undo the four bolts a pair of ring spanners will do although you will have to remove the grease nipple.