This morning I noticed a puddle under my truck and its comming from the pinion seal. I'm not sure how long its been leaking but gear oil is all over the place. Anybody replace the front one before? I have 53K on my truck and what would cause it to go...

 

Its a common problem among other things. I would take it in to have it changed since you need to tighten the nut until the rotational torque is at spec.

 

Ditto. I just went into the Ford dealership and had my pinion seal and tranny output shaft seal changed at the same time. At the same time they gave my driveshaft a good once-over, checking u-joints, etc.

$100 each (Canadian), and that included a bit of gear oil that had to top my diffy with.

Dealership actually had the best price in town after calling some tranny shops.

What astonished me was what they did to the mess down there. My seals were leaking for a few years, but finally got bad enough to change. But over those years the oil just caked on everywhere. I got home, got some cleaning supplies together , old rags, varsol, ect, wanting to go clean that gunk up, got under there and it was clean as a whistle! Thanks Ford!

 

I called the Ford dealership were I bought my truck and they said it would be a hour of labor depending on the rust. Should I have them do the transfer case front seal also, even though its not leaking yet?

 

So Ford did my pinion seal and on the write up it says they used 75-140 in the front diff. What should I do...?

 

Leave it. It will be fine.

 

Alright I didnt know since it calls for 80-90...

 

Whats the diffrence with the diffrent weight up front?

 

They just use a standard wide range gear oil on all the trucks. Its cheaper for them to do this instead of having 12 different gear oils.

 

I dunno, but when I got mine done, they also put 75/140 in the rear, even though I just filled it with 80w90

Maybe thats all dealers stock?

 

Should have done it yourself. Would have been much cheaper.

 

Not if you don't have the necessary tools to measure rotational and breakaway torque. Yes its important.

 

My comment is only relevant if he has the necessary tools. And, yes, I know it's important since I do all of my own work.

 

Yeah I hat thought about changing my own because a few members have gotten lucky by zipping the nut on and off with an impact but no thanks. I'd rather let Ford mess with it since I don't have the proper tools to take those measurements and if they mess it up they have to fix it.

 

99% of places that do it in an hour only do just that lol...

 

Agreed, if you can't do it right then I would not do it at all. You're just asking for problems when you do.

 

If you do that kind of work a lot then you can get it real close just by feel. It depends on the experience level of the person doing the work. Although it doesn't take that much longer to do it right.

 

Oh yeah I know. The difference is that if it leaks again guess who gets to fix it again.

 

did mine that way so far so good. being the dang thing starts leaking every year around here because of the salt then going to the dunes. seems like a every 4th oil change thing haha

 

Within a few days, mine went from a small oil slick on the pumpkin to a puddle in the driveway.

Given that I had to take a 1200km round trip drive the following weekend, I didn't want to risk burning my diffy out half way.

$100 was well worth the piece of mind.

 

i think im going to go with the impact approach and see how that works out for me, maybe im stupid idk but i dont think its got to be all that hard, finally had my first decent sized puddle the other day and i dont want to risk it

 

I walked out with a $75 bill, I dont think that was bad...

 

I had ford do mine, and they must have done a bad job because it leaked again, they did it again, and it leaked again. I finally gave up and did it myself, it holds now... They also left my pinion with a bearing preload of between 1-2 inch pounds... way under spec.

Don't use an impact gun, do it with a rachet or braker bar... the impacting motion on a socket will rattle the bearings located right there. They are not only expensive but expensive to change if you need to change them.

Saving a few bucks here and there is good, but sometimes if you dont have the tools it is just best to bring it somewheres... just a 1/4" 0-60 in. pound torque wrench was 60 bucks at NAPA. I did like doing it myself becuase i like projects like that. So even if I spent more in the end, I have a tool I will never hopefully use again :)

 

yeah i'd rather do mine... its starting to drip but since i changed the front diff oil it hasnt dripped as much so im gonna hold off till after winter.