LEAKAGE. Do not know wur its coming from

[Chopper]

You may want to go 85 or 90/140 this time of year, go back to 75/90 in winter.The job itself is a fairly complex and time consuming one. If you are totally green on 4x4 front ends, it would be a good idea to,at the very least, have some help from a bud who has cracked one before. You may want to farm this one out...it won't be cheap though. If you had the Helm manual, and a decent set of tools(snap ring pliers, torque wrench etc.) and a bunch of time, you could do it. Second time through, it goes much more quickly How are your CV's, tie rod ends,wheel bearings and such...you'll be in there anyway Good luck either way you go. Wayne

[Ascinder]

Having just done a lot of work on my front end, I can tell you that it's a PITA to replace that seal. You have to tear out a helluva lot to get at it, and while you're in there it sure wouldn't hurt to replace the inner bearings(I did) since they are pretty cheap, and after you know what this is like, you're probably not going to want to do it again. Be very careful getting your upper and lower balljoints separated. I tore two of the boots on mine, and just ended up buying four new complete units. You pill probably need a balljoint separator(AKA pickle fork) and a bearing press helps a lot too. I know mine were in plenty tight and after soaking them well in advance with PB blaster and beating on them with a 5lb. sledge for quite awhile, they still didn't want to come out. The book is goin to tell you that you need some special tools, but they can be ignored if you have a little ingenuity and some common sense. I would take a good hard look at those CV boots while you're in there. Mine were showing signs of dry rot cracking from the nasty desert I live in. Good luck.

[JHarris1385]

I would have to say I have now become completely discouraged to do this repair. I wish I was more confident with this. I would really like to learn this but am to afriad I will damage something in the process. I forgot to upload the pics I took last night. It seems like it is just not a slow leak but spinning/spitting out of the gap between the two becuase the metal above it is wet as well.

[Chopper]

Take it to a Cv/axle joint. The only downside is you won't get to do all those bearing, boot, tie rod end swaps, unless your pockets are deep.Swaping the front axles entirely is probably the cheapest and easiest way to go...I would be inclined to do both at the same time though.

[JHarris1385]

Damn now I am worried.

[Dino]

Hate to add to the injury but here's some news you should know.

It suddenly dawned on me in the middle of my day, " hey that dude has a bad bearing and that's why he's seeing fluid slinging out, AND hearing a noise. He needs to get in there soon!!!"

Yep. I think you have a bad bearing, the seal is completely worn out because of the excess play in the bearing and that's why it's leaking.

You need to do something soon!! You could do this I think. Yes it's intimidating but you can do it and you should because labor to do that seal is gonna be (educated guess) about $400 - $500.

At any rate, I think you should take action soon and at the very least, top off the diff oil!!!!!!

[Ascinder]

Man, just do it. The bearings and seals are around $70-90 from St. Charles. I don't remember offhand and that is for both sides. You'll also want to remember to order the snap rings that go in there. Tools you'll need are snap ring pliers, a fish scale for doing the outer retention rings and possibly a bearing press of some kind, all of which can be had cheaply. Plus the regular metric toolset for the VX. Not including the diff. oil you should be able to get this done for around $100 and a weekend(give or take). Just be careful in the areas already mentioned and you'll be fine. If you do plan on doing this just send me a PM and I'll give you and in depth run down in all it's gory detail. Plus you can talk smack to everyone who hasn't torn apart the front end of their vehicle before and call them little sissy nancy girls.

[IndianaVX]

john,
if you do do this....(uh hu hu, i said "do do") or any other job with lots of parts, dont be ashamed to get a vidio camera to tape things, so you can remember how it goes back easier, ive had to do it before. also, zip lock bags with the white labels to write on with a marker, for holding bolts and labeling where they go. and maybe even a big ole' piece of cardboard to lay stuff out on like a big "exploded view", and then you can make notes on the cardboard pointing to the part.....you know?? you can ususally go to a lumber yard like lowes, and in the plywood section, they sometimes have 4' x 8' pieces of cardboard to protect the plywood during shipping that they will give you. just some things ive done on complicated proceduers, that have paid off.
believe me, if you get it apart, and have something come up where a day or two pass, you can forget alot.
good luck with it.