Need some advice, would a clogged front diff breather cause it to leak gear oil out both seals on both sides or do I have bad seals?

Thanks for any help!

 

I'm thinking if it's leaking out both sides your seals may be shot. My pinion seal was leaking recently on the rear and I saved it with a new diff breather. I wanted to check the level because I knew it had been leaking and when I popped the filler bolt out it went psssssssssss I knew what was causing the leak then. You could just replace the breather they are only a couple bucks and see if that fixes it before you start tearing into seals. If you get a hiss of air when you pull the breather off that is probably the problem.

 

Is it strange that both of them would start leaking at the same time? I took the diff out today(a real PITA!) and I'll replace the seals saturday, The only problem I had was when I cleaned the case I washed off the line up mark for the drive shaft. Think this will be an issue?

 

Just use some RTV, those paper seals are a pain and often tear anyway when you put the diff back in. On the front drive shaft, you are only going to usually have it engaged at lower speeds for wheeling, so not as big a deal as the rear, but just line up the u-joints so they are in the same plane as each other and you should be fine.

 

Will do, Thanks for the help!

 

Found my mark so I wont have a problem with lining back up the drive shaft

 

if you offroad and ford a little water with a clogged breather it will blow the seals in no time, rapid heating and cooling.....but i'd also use rtv sealant....stuff is TOUGH....