M923 A1 Front Axle Oil leak

[Arny]

I've been reading for hours in this forum now but haven't found a solution for my problem

My M923 A1 has a oil leak on the front axle. Oil drips from behind the axle boot. So I changed the inner oil seal.
The first ride it was all good but after 50mls it started leaking again. I'm really pissed right now as you might know how much effort it costs to change that seal.
Anyway the front axle vent is not blocked - so that can be excluded.

When I removed the wheel I noticed that the wheel bearing had quite a lot of freeplay. So I assumed that was the original reason for the leak since the driveshaft will also tumble (in the oil seal).

Now I'm wondering if the bushings might have been damaged due to that. Is the only bushing for the drive shaft the brass one in the axle spindle?

I'm really a bit helpless right now since I don't want to change the seal again without any effect...

Any ideas?

 

[simp5782]

Put your outer flange on without any bolts and try to wiggle it up and down. How do the splines look in the outer flange. If they are starting to get ate then it can cause the axle to wobble and cause a leak.

 

[Arny]

I can wiggle it up and down a bit - is that noK already? But the flange has no freeplay with the drive shaft.
The splines also look good.

 

[adamsoffroadperformance]

it will have play over and 1/8" out of centerline is normal. did the seal retainer by chance pop out of it's place? and I use some permatex around the o.d. of the seal retainer when I drive it into place in the axle tube.

 

[Arny]

Total freeplay is maybe a bit more than 1/8". But not 1/8" out of center line...
I thought there might be a leak between axle and seal retainer? The retainer was pressed in very well - I wasn't able to disassemble it.
Maybe the new seal was NOS and had some damage?
I just want to be sure there is nothing I didn't consider before I redo all that again...

 

[Arny]

The freeplay looks like this and is almost similar to the other side....

http://sendvid.com/5dxzgr5v

 

[acesneights1]

What seals did you use ?
unfortunatly my experience with these trucks is that either you use Nationals which seem to fail faster or roll the dice on Mil surplus seals which half the time are junk too.
I hate to say this but it was probably just a bad seal or you rolled it putting the axle shaft back in. It happens.
i have come across my fair share of defective seals . It won't be as bad to change it again as all you have to do this time is pull the hub and spindle. Knuckle can stay on but I do personally know what a (expletitive) getting the old seal out can be.
I made an adapter for my big slap hammer and I had one last night that even that didn't work on.

 

[acesneights1]

Also how high is the oil leve in the pumpkin ? These trucks should not be filled to the full plug. They should be kept just below the bowl since the wheel bearings are packed with grease.

 

[adamsoffroadperformance]

yeah as he said too much oil ad it will cause a leak.. the play in your video is normal

 

[Arny]

I jused an original seal which was sealed in it's package. Probably a NOS part. But that's a good point - maybe there was something wrong with it.
When I changed the oil seal on one of the rear differential these days I also noticed that the rubber itself was quite badly manufactured
Now I bought some "after market" seal - but it has no double cage. Hope it works as well.
I used a crowbar to remove the washer and the seal. If you handle it carefully it's quite easy with that. My slap hammer couldn't deal with it.

Ok thanks for the allusion to the oil level! When I first replaced the seal there were almost 1,5 gallons missing to the full plug. But in this case I might have added to much...

 

[73m819]

NEVER use a NOS seal, at least in my opinion, because it may be new, still in the packaging, BUT it may be OLD, how old that is a ????, for example some 5T seals could be from the early 50s, a old seal drys out, not very flexible, even after install and use, the seal NEVER comes back to its new softness and flexibility = possible LEAK. Instead of buying a nos seal for a lower price, buy a NEW MODERN seal, the price may be a bit more but that becomes CHEAP if you have to replace your NEW nos seal.