Leak

Hey everyone, found a leak on the deuce while bleeding my air tanks. The truck is parked at a slight incline toward the driver's side, and the leak was dripping on the backside of the front drive axle of the driver's side. So looks like gear oil, now I haven't even had a chance to consider going into it and checking yet, but it seems that axle seals are fairly common leak points. Does this seem like the problem to anyone else? Truck was completely serviced before me getting it, and I've probably put on 300 miles or so this summer. Any help before I get a chance to dive in would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Do you have any pictures of said leak? My particular deuce has more leaks than Hillary's email server and they all sorta blend together. I'm going to work through them one at a time until I can figure them out. I'd love to know which is yours so I have a reference point, lol.

Like Ken said, if you can snap some pictures, that would greatly help so we have a good idea of what exactly is going on.

kenn-
"more leaks than Hillary's email server"

Thanks for the good laugh Ken, this was the funniest thing I've read all day

Hopefully I can find some time this weekend to get a closer look. Maybe it will be a fun anniversary project with my wife. I'll get back.

With the way the truck is sitting currently, the drip seems to be coming out from the small inspection cover. Before realizing I had a leak last time I drove, it slung that oil all around on the backside of the tire.

Time to clean and repack your wheel bearings and install new seals.

I've got the same issue on my driver intermediate and my passenger rear. I have the seals, grease, etc. I just need to get to it. Your truck looks super clean otherwise! Did you get under there with dome 409 and a toothbrush lol? The various leaks under mine have made the underside a very dirty girl.

rustystud said:

Time to clean and repack your wheel bearings and install new seals.

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Would the gear oil be getting in the brake components too? I'm wondering if the brake shoes and drum need to be cleaned as well.

HDN said:

Would the gear oil be getting in the brake components too? I'm wondering if the brake shoes and drum need to be cleaned as well.

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Yes, that's why it is dripping from the inspection/adjustment cover.

HDN said:

Would the gear oil be getting in the brake components too? I'm wondering if the brake shoes and drum need to be cleaned as well.

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I would just assume it has leaked / oozed around the drum and does. Don’t drive anymore until you fix it. It’s really a simple job. The toughest part is remove the tires to get to the brake drum. But if you had a dual wheel tire dolly you could remove the wheels & hubs as one unit. Be sure to check your major and minor brake shoe adjustment while you’re in there.

WillWagner said:

Yes, that's why it is dripping from the inspection/adjustment cover.

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@Shooter308 the inspection cover @WillWagner is referring to is where you inspect & insert your feeler gauge when adjusting brake shoes.

I assumed this was going to be the case. Will get seals ordered up, a case of brake clean, any preference on grease?

Shooter308 said:

I assumed this was going to be the case. Will get seals ordered up, a case of brake clean, any preference on grease?

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A high quality high temp grease of your choice. Waaayyy back when the Army had a thick peanut butter colored wheel bearing grease (aka peanut butter) that did fine. Of course we had to repack wheel bearings every 6 months and change seals.

Be sure to inspect the bearing cone & cup (races) for heat galling or scratches/damage. Replace as a complete set (cone & roller).

Buy a good bearing packer or Google how to pack bearings by hand. Packing by hand is a bit messy but probably just as messy as setting up a bearing packer over & over. Whatever option you go with be sure to drive the grease down inside & all around the individual bearings inside the cage. Too many guys smear grease on the outside of the cage & call it good. That’s a sure-fire recipe for bearing failure.

I think you mentioned inner wheel seals. All 6 wheels had inner wheel seals - the front also has inner axle seals. I can’t remember whether the front, rear, or both had outer wheel seals - I think just the front but I could be a liar. The TM will help answer that!

Theres a gasket for the axle shaft flange. In a pinch we made them out of manilla folders (lol). Manufactured gaskets are best. You don’t need to but I always smeared a thin coat of RTV on both sides of the gasket. If when you pull your axles and you find the flange bolts & bolt holes full of RTV - that wasn’t me! But dig / flush / clean that rubbery snot out. I never put Loctite in the flange bolts but you could if you wanted I reckon.

one thing I have run into with my 5-tons (and the same probably holds true with deuces) is that some seal numbers cross to other seals that are same fit/dimensions but are NOT the same as your seal .. the most major of differences is that you should insist the supplier get you double-lip seals, not single-lippers .. the more lips the better!!

Thanks for the input from everyone. I'll be waiting for my parts to arrive, then comes the fun.

Shooter308 said:

Thanks for the input from everyone. I'll be waiting for my parts to arrive, then comes the fun.

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You a fellow Michigander? If so, abouts what area? I'm from Western, lower peninsula north of Grand Rapids. I think there's also a few fellas up in northern lower peninsula and I'm not sure who is in the upper peninsula.

ToddJK said:

You a fellow Michigander? If so, abouts what area? I'm from Western, lower peninsula north of Grand Rapids. I think there's also a few fellas up in northern lower peninsula and I'm not sure who is in the upper peninsula.

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Sure am. North of traverse city. I have some family in the GR area.

Check your axle vents.

You will build pressure and push fluids out every time you drive if the vents aren't working. I go off-road a lot, so I replaced my vents with hose barbs and tied them all together with tubing ending in the cab. That way I know when water might get into the system.

Started the project of maintenance on the rear hub this evening. Sure enough I could see the outer bearing was covered in gear oil. Went on to remove the drum which I was expecting to slide off fairly easy but it is not. Since it was getting dark I decided to leave it for the night and get a fresh start tomorrow. Is this typical for the drum to not come off very easily. I got it rocked back and forth by tapping with a dead blow but just doesn't want to come off. Hopefully not a sign of other issues.

Shooter308 said:

Started the project of maintenance on the rear hub this evening. Sure enough I could see the outer bearing was covered in gear oil. Went on to remove the drum which I was expecting to slide off fairly easy but it is not. Since it was getting dark I decided to leave it for the night and get a fresh start tomorrow. Is this typical for the drum to not come off very easily. I got it rocked back and forth by tapping with a dead blow but just doesn't want to come off. Hopefully not a sign of other issues.

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You may have to adjust the brake shoes in and away from the drum - if there is a "lip" on the outer edge of the drum... Depends on how well the vehicle has been maintained and if maybe the drum didn't "get turned" during the last shoe replacement...