Gear oil seeping near rear spring shackle?

1st gen 5 lug. The diff has been giving me no end of problems. Breather was rusted shut. Pinion seal was torn to shreds. The truck has 42,000 miles.

It doesn't seem to be coming from the axle seal. There is most definitely clean looking gear oil on the passenger side spring and spring shackle. I searched and people with rust-related diff leaks seemed to have them at the pumpkin/rear cover area.

Is my housing destroyed, or is there something there that could leak, or is there a chance I could get away with some sort of JB Weld or RTV solution for now? I'm sick and tired of chasing leaks.

 

Can you take some pictures and post them here in order to have a look at what's actually going on?

 

I don't know how oil could get to the shackle. Are you sure that is the correct term for the part in question? Do you really mean u-bolt plate?

 

Correct. The U-bolt plate.

You can see some darkness on the housing here. It's a difficult place to take photos. There is no oil near the flange on the end, only here at the U-bolt area.



It had been worse but I wiped off the spring earlier.

 

brake line drip? can you see anything from above that spot? I would've said proportioning valve but it's on driver's side. how's the shock/boot?

idk just running through quick thoughts.

 

Nope, not brake fluid, gear oil for sure. The bleeder screw and brake line are dry.

My only possible thought is that somehow the U-bolts were overtorqued when the frame and rear springs were replaced, and this cracked the housing there, but that was two years ago and this is a brand new leak that only started after changing the diff oil. The truck has never been jumped or abused, previous owner was my dad in his 60s.

 

Cracked housing is the only thing it could be. Hard to see with all that rust, though. I had a crack there in my '84 4runner, in the same spot. I replaced the housing.