I have a breather on my rear axle. Today, I drove the truck about 17 miles and when I got home I had a leak coming from the center section of the axle. When I looked at the housing, I traced the leak up to the breather. My question is....
1) Is this normal? (i don't think so)
2) What type of problem could this indicate?
3) Should I get a new breather?

I'm gonna go get new gear oil tommorrow, cuz I figure with the amount that was on the housing, my gears will need it. btw, not driving the truck to get the oil. Don't want to fry the gears.

Thanks.

 

hmmm, ive never had a leak there..

1. no its not normal

2. do you wheel it in mud? if so, water seeping inside your housing resulting in a high level of fluid?

3. i would put new oil in and see what happens, if the problem persists check into the breather.

 

you can put a new nipple on .go to tech section theres a write up on a mod to extend the breather line, just be carefull not to crossthread it,

 

I was gonna get the Marlincrawler kit. Is that a similar thing?

 

1. Depends on the level of oil in your diff. Remeber, the idea of the breather is to release the extra pressure from the oil expanding as it gets hot.

Have you added more oil to it recently? Or gone to an Oil Change place? They will often top off your Diff. fluid if it's low.

2. Too much oil, a ton of water and/or mud, a plugged line?

3. You could, is it already extended? If it's already extended, take the tube off and see if it's clear.

Remeber, gear oil tends to spread allot and stain everything it touches. So it may look like a ton of fluid everywhere, and in reality not be that much.

Let us know how it goes!

 

you could just got down to your local parts store and bring in the breather for the tread size. and get a brass nipple , and some hose and reuse the breather , clearing it out and stick in the end of the house . like 4 bucks lol or you can buy the one on the website.

 

was your housing abnormally hot? this would cause oil to exit the breather but only if the level is too high, another cause is if wrong oil is used it could be foaming inside the housing. if the oil is milky or grey instead of black, it could be contaminated with water causing an abnormally high level.