Gear oil dripping from inner CV boot

It is probably just old grease in there with god knows how many miles (probably from the factory). I know my grease gun leaks out some liquified goop after sitting for a while. More than likely, you had some of that liquified grease in there and once you lifted the truck, the worn out CV clamp gave that liquid goop an easy exit.

 

Does it smell like grease? Or does it smell sour like diff oil?

 

Ok now I see what you're saying. I didn't see this picture before.

 

I tend to want to add things after the fact that's my bad haha

 

It kinda had a gear oil smell, but I can't commit to that scent not already being on me since we were messing with my brother in law's FJ60 front diff before. And I saw it actively dripping, which I don't think cool grease would do.

 

@ThunderOne I'm going to try and trace it to see if it's coming from that area and just dripping down the CV.

 

I think it would be pretty tough for diff oil to run down your axle onto your boot, but I guess crazier things have happened

 

I hope this is the case. I'll update.

 

As someone who just replaced both axle seals, I don’t see how it could be leaking from the axle seal and going down the boot of your CV.

One side on my truck was leaking on the skid plate and then running off there to the ground. I replaced both sides because I was changing one CV and both ball joints so I was in there to begin with. I think it’s old nasty grease leaking from the boot that may have had some water get in and mix with the grease. My 883s did the same thing after they were installed.

 

If it ends up being your CV boot leaking, and not your diff... here's a write-up with photos on replacing the boots, including part numbers, tools, etc. Reasonably easy job once you have the parts and tools, just a little time consuming.

How-to: Rebooting a Tacoma CV Axle

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I’m gonna say it’s safe to drive if that hasn’t been said already.

I’ve been doing so for 3 years

 

Yeah for sure. I had been leaking some for a while. When I finally changed the seal I also did a drain and fill of the diff and only got slightly less than half a quart out. I believe I put in just over 1qt when I filled it...

 

I guess it just worried me that it looked like gear oil and not grease. It also happened all of a sudden and it seemed like a lot was leaking out in such a short amount of time

 

Have you checked your diff breather to make sure it isn’t clogged? I wonder if it heated up enough in there that it blew off pressure through one of your seals instead of the diff. I guess I could see that happening but it still seems difficult to see it get on the boot and drip down the shaft like that.

 

I should have clarified,
If it’s just a tore boot I’d say just get to it when you can.

Sooners definitely better obviously.

Leaking diff I’d make a priority

 

Mine did the exact same thing big dog. I went and got new remanufactured CVS from Toyota here locally and kept my originals for spares just in case. My original OEM had 120k on them so I just swapped them. When my clamp on my boots did that, I wheeled it lightly for a couple weeks and they was still fine. That’s just part of lifting your rig man. Also, I don’t have a diff drop nor armor or a winch on right now and I’ve rode those 883 for 2 years now and they have settled decent but rides like a wagon; my cv angles aren’t bad unless I droop it a little The taco is my garage queen and I daily a XJ with 4.5 lift and 33’s.

 

Just to reiterate, you do NOT need to reboot the whole axle. You just have a worn out clamp. All you need to do is replace the clamp. There is no need to reboot your CVs at this time, not until they tear will you need to worry about that. And I have driven lots of miles on a blown boot before, it's not a huge deal until you get mud or dirt inside it.

If you diff was leaking, it would not be leaking where it is.

 

^^^^ All of this.

 

I dunno, that kinda depends on the condition of the grease, no?

If the grease in there is runny and contaminated with water (or just generally really old), wouldn't be a bad idea to rebuild/replace them... But definitely not as high a priority as if the boot were torn.

 

well if he really wanted to not have to take the whole thing out, he could remove both clamps, slide the fat side of the boot forward, scoop out the old grease and inject some new grease in there. Or at least inspect it and see if it needs all that. Then pop the boot back on and re-clamp it