Pinion seal leak?

off roads have a larger diff then other models, so take more fluid. If you polish that flange piece it should be fine, they usually look worse than they really are.

 

Run your finger across the seal area, if you can not feel the groove, then it's fine. Polish it with some emery cloth clean it up and reinstall.

The grayish area is an area to inspect closely as well... this is an indication of corrosion... if you feel pitting in this area, and you can not polish it out you will need to replace it. This pitting will ruin your new seal extremely fast. Think of it as sandpaper on that nice new seal lip.


Also, as @saint277 mentioned, you have an 8.75" rear diff. Not the 8.0". So more fluid is required.

 

Gotcha thanks man

Makes sense. Thankfully there was no pitting and it cleaned right up. Unfortunately, I could definitely feel the groove there which still has me confused. I feel like that should happen after 100k, not 45k. Luckily the leak was really small so if it does do it again I'll have plenty of time to get it fixed. Also from what I've read it's a cheap part so no huge loss here.

 

Running into the same leak right now. Hopefully the replacement and bypass will be able to fix the issue before spending $600 for seal replacement and flush. About 60k post regeared to 5.29's fyi

 

^Seal is easy to replace as DIY job if you have a vernier caliper and impact wrench.

 

Check your breather. If you play in the mud and it looks like you do. It can get clogged and make pressure in the housing.

 

Same situation for me slight leak post 10k 5.29 regear did you by chance have a low hum or drone noise when on throttle at higher speeds 70-75mph? I’m trying to figure out if this bad pinion seal is causing the noise