hey there just went outside to go work on my truck and noticed a nice size puddle of oil. the puddle wasnt huge but enough to get my attention. anyway i traced it and it is coming from the bottom of my front diff. its leaking from the bolt thing on the bottom. What is this called and what would i need to fix it??? The truck is a '92 v6 toyota pickup. thanks for the help

 

Front pinion seal probably.

 

Thanks for the quick response. how difficult is it to replace and how much is the part

 

Part is under $10 and there are lots of writeups online how to...or check a FSM. About a 3 on a 10 scale.

 

alright i appreciate it. off to napa now

 

is this something i can do with basic hand tools this afternoon?

 

Not trying to doubt wabfab, but just my opinion before you tear into it... Are you sure it's oil coming from the diff and not from the engine? Oil always runs down (gravity, of course), and a lot of times it ends up running down the diff and dripping off the drain plug for the diff. The back of my valve cover was leaking when I bought my 4Runner and it looked a lot like the diff was leaking because of the way it ran down and dripped off. My oil pan gasket was also a contributing factor, but it just ran right down off the front diff.

Easy way to be sure is by smelling the oil. Diff/gear oil will smell awful and will be thick and almost sticky. Engine oil, well... you probably know what that is like.

Good luck!

 

ya man pretty sure this is gear oil its thick. i dont see oil any where else but this spot either

 

Good deal, then I'd go for the pinion seal like wabfab said.