Ok, overnight about a pint of diff oil leaked out, mostly at my rear left wheel, a little at the cover gasket. I know how to replace the gasket on the diff but what's up with the wheel? Do I need an axle or is there something that I can replace (or can be replaced)?

Alex

Edit: Forgot to say that I put the rear on 10" jack stands one side at a time, LH first. I put the jack on the control arm but almost at the point where it connects to the frame, put the stands a little closer to the wheel. Could I have caused this jacking it up the wrong way?

 

I'd check the manual for jacking points. Your choice doesn't sound as if it was the best choice (if I understand correctly). To lose that much fluid, I'd "guess" there's a failure of significant proportion at the axle and/or seal.

JamesC

 

My manual says jack it at the pinch welds under the rocker which I'm not doing. I usually put the jack under the diff but the stabilizer bar looked like it would get it the way. I jacked it up friday and I'm fairly sure it started leaking sometime yesterday. I've been searching through my manual and found info on how to replace the axle shaft, seal, and bearing. It doesn't sound to hard but I've also never done it before. You guys think I should take it to a shop? I strapped on cash so I don't know if I could afford for someone else to do the work.

Alex

 

Are you sure its the rearend leaking and not your brakes .

 

From what I could tell my whl cylinders didn't look wet. Brake fluid went down in the front reservoir but not the rear. I planned on replacing all the brakes tommorow. The fluid that leaked out is a goldish brown color and it kinda smells like oil, I suppose it could be brake fluid. But with my luck it's never that simple.

 

Do you have the 9 bolt or 10 bolt rear end? The axle seal is probably leaking, but that is a lot of oil to loose in that amount of time. If it's a 10 bolt then you might have a bad axle. If so then you need to reloace the axle, bearing and seal. If it's a 9 bolt then you would have to replace the bearing and seal.

 

This something you can do, if the problem truly exists there and its a 10-bolt. Check the sticky at the top of the page.

JamesC

 

Well, I think the puddle under the wheel is brake fluid It is leaking a little oil from the diff cover though. I'll crack the drum off in a little bit and make sure. I know I should probably replace the seals anyway since it's got 155k on it (i've got a 10 bolt posi btw). Sorry to bug you guys.

Alex

 

You said that the front part of the master cylinder resevour was low. The fluid in the front is actually for the rear breakes so it's probably break fluid.

 

Well now that I got the drum off I think that it's diff oil, and it's been leaking a while. Everything is covered in black slime. But it kinda seems like theirs brake fluid in the mix too, so I'm gonna replace the lh seal and bearing anyway (you guys think I should replace both?). I drained the diff, all the oil was black and quite thick so it needed it anyway. No metal shavings I could see. I'm going to go get parts tomorrow, should be done by Monday. I'll let you guys know how it turns out
Thanks!
Alex