Can 35's stress a rear pinion seal?

There's gear oil all over the under side of my truck with it dripping from the rear pinion seal when sitting. I've been running 35's with 5.29s for well over 10k miles. Wondering if the gearing stresses that part of the shaft at all? The only other thing is I have an aftermarket breather that runs up to my gas cap. I blew into it and its not clogged. Unless the nipple is clogged

 

I would say no. The tire size is most likely not the issue. If I were in your situation I would start by draining the fluid and inspect it for metal flake and make sure the fluid quality was ok. If that was all good I would remove the seal and make sure the housing wasn’t gouged or damaged in some way from the installation of your 5.29’s. I would definitely check the breather and make sure it’s working because if it can’t vent properly it can build up pressure when it heats up. If all that was ok I would install an oem seal fill it with your favorite brand of oil and send it. Keep an eye on it to make sure you solved the problem. it’s not a difficult job to change it out. Hopefully you caught it in time to prevent damage.

 

It only has a little over 20k miles on it which is my concern. The seal shouldn't be anywhere near failing

 

20k since the 5:29s went in?

 

Good possibility that the shop did not replace the pinion seal when they installed the gears. They also could’ve just simply nicked the seal when they installed the pinion. These seals are normally pretty robust and forgiving, improper installation and not lubing the seal is generally the issue

 

Around 12k miles since they went in. The truck has 20k miles total

 

this is what I was thinking.
look first, where the human was last

 

My wager is the seal was dinked during the install a bit and has now given up.

 

Am I crazy or did the shop put these bolts on backwards?

 

^On the 3rd gen OR diff, those bolts are studs pressed into the pinion flange. (To remove the driveshaft, you would compress the driveshaft for the yoke flange to clear the studs.) The nuts are missing.

 

I took the nuts off to replace the seal but cant figure out how to remove the bolts (studs). Are 3rd gens different than 2nd gens? Cause the 2nd gen diagram shows the bolts facing the other way

 

^Yes it's different on 3rd gen OR. To remove the driveshaft, you would compress the driveshaft for the yoke flange to clear the studs.

 

That's the diagram for the rear pinion.

 

Your driveshaft yoke studs are how they are supposed to be.

No, neither tires nor the gearing itself ruined the seal. The pinion itself is under less stress with 5.29 and 35's than it would have been with stock gears and 31's. The seal was probably poor quality or not installed right. I'd go with OEM for the seal. Would be interesting to know what part was used originally.

 

Yeah I mistyped. Im talking about the rear seal

 

Shop says Nitro seals are garbage and it failed. They said they would fix it for free if they damaged it but says Nitro seals are known to fail

 

That is not an untrue statement. OEM part is better and it already comes with grease in the lip. Don't really need to do anything but hammer it in. 90311-T0065

 

^The seal is easy enough to replace if you want to DIY. Measure the pinion nut depth with a caliper before loosening with an impact. The pinion flange slides out easy. Replace the seal.

 

I don't think it matters which way the bolts go in, as long as it's torqued properly. I never remember how they came from the factory so I just guess when reassembling and I've never had an issue.

 

There's no room to pull them out is why I think they're backwards. They would run into the metal cover behind them. Anyone wanna be a bro and check their truck before I start wandering around the neighborhood looking for a 3rd gen to crawl under