• Steel Soldiers now has a few new forums, read more about it at: New Munitions Forums!

  • Microsoft MSN, Live, Hotmail, Outlook email users may not be receiving emails. We are working to resolve this issue. Please add support@steelsoldiers.com to your trusted contacts.

M998 Front Differential

General Hood

Member
712
2
18
Location
Fort Towson, OK
The other day I noticed oil on my left front brake rotor, and got under the truck to inspect ( thinking I had a brake caliper leaking) but it turned the leak was coming from the differential side of the brake rotor. I unbolted the half shaft from the differential flange and oil poured out. Okay, looks like I need to replace the output seal on the differential. Upon further inspection, some knucklehead in the life of this truck had rounded off the brake line connector to the caliper. GRrrrr
Got the caliber out of the way so I could remove the output shaft flange and the entire nut and surrounding area was heavily coated in silicone. I dug at it with a slotted screwdriver and box blade for a good while in order to expose the nut. Here is an image after I dug and scraped silicone for half an hour
IMG_20180619_185717695.jpg
Any helpful tips on the seal removal / replacement would be appreciated. After seeing the workmanship of previous MV mechanic , I proceed with caution
 

cwc

Active member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
307
153
43
Location
Sweeden, KY
I have seen the silicone used before also, seems it must be a somewhat common practice. It is interesting that yours was leaking so much even with a lot of silicone. Maybe it was applied to oily parts and did not get a good deal.

I recently replaced the seals on the front of a M998. It has the older style differential brackets that have to come off to access the seal. The nuts are hard to get to; I used a socket that I had previously modified by grinding flats on the drive end, and held it with an open-end wrench, which made it fairly easy.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

NDT

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
10,430
6,469
113
Location
Camp Wood/LC, TX
The seal that is leaking or missing is between the flange and spline. Pvt. Dope tried to shortcut the proper repair with a tube of silicone.
 

jkcondrey

Active member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
317
140
43
Location
Rutherfordton, NC
The flange will just pull off, mine did. You may need a light slide hammer to break free. There should be a rubber washer, with grooves in it to match the threads on the shaft. It can be lightly coated with silicone to aide in sealing. Order that and the main seal. I don't recall what I paid, but the wife didn't notice so probably not much.
 

General Hood

Member
712
2
18
Location
Fort Towson, OK
I had asked if the flange wiggles, because it looks like the nut isnt down all the way. That will definitely cause leaks.
No wiggle, everything is tight. I drained the differential as well, oil looked good and no metal flakes or fibers stuck on the magnet. That's always a good sign
 

AOR

Active member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
150
37
28
Location
Burtonsville, MD.
I was going to say the same thing about the star washer. I don't think I have ever seen that much silicone under a flange before. I ordered new output seals and star washers and a pinion seal for mine then when I cleaned it off and took a better look it was only the pinion seal leaking and dripping off of the brake caliper bracket. I replaced the pinion seal only and have driven about 200 miles so far and no more oil
 

Retiredwarhorses

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
4,392
4,172
113
Location
Brentwood, Calif
If when you pull a Halfshaft and you get 80-90GO between the HS and Rotor, it’s the stub axle flange seal Early version was just several o-rings stuffed in there, now it’s a specific seal. I still put a bead of rtv on the face of the nut when I install them as double protection.
 

Ezraroot

New member
2
1
1
Location
Charlotte
Does anyone know the year that they changed the bracket that causes you to remove the diff to repair this? I have the same problem and am about to tackle it this weekend.
 

cwc

Active member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
307
153
43
Location
Sweeden, KY
Ezraroot, you should be able to see whether the bracket overlaps the seal without needing to take anything apart.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

General Hood

Member
712
2
18
Location
Fort Towson, OK
If when you pull a Halfshaft and you get 80-90GO between the HS and Rotor, it’s the stub axle flange seal Early version was just several o-rings stuffed in there, now it’s a specific seal. I still put a bead of rtv on the face of the nut when I install them as double protection.
As a note of interest, there were neither O Rings nor blue star washer on my unit once disassembled. I can only speculate the overdose of silicone was a quick fix field maintenance, and was never followed up by any proper maintenance procedure
 

General Hood

Member
712
2
18
Location
Fort Towson, OK
Back on the project- I decided to go ahead and do both sides while I was at it. The driver side that leaked had no O ring or seal, passenger side had a crushed O ring and 2 smaller versions of the replacement seal IMG_20180627_125924436.jpg


Please confirm only one of the new blue seals replaces what I removed. I'd rather ask and beg forgiveness, than second guess myself on this
IMG_20180627_130029377.jpg
 
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website like our supporting vendors. Their ads help keep Steel Soldiers going. Please consider disabling your ad blockers for the site. Thanks!

I've Disabled AdBlock
No Thanks