Diff Breather Tube Repair - DANA 44 Front Axle

[chevymitchell]

Good evening everyone.

Here is a DIY guide to repair your Diff Breather Tube if (when) it breaks off.

This is bound to happen to everyone eventually. The material DANA uses for the factory breather tube is very brittle. If you bend this, it will likely not bend back and will crack as mine did. In fact, mine broke right off.

The factory breather tube is also pressed in. I called DANA and asked if I could buy only this piece and they said no.

Tools Required:

• Drill
• Magnet
• 11/32" Drill Bit
• 3/8" Drill Bit
• 13/32" Drill Bit
• 7/16" Drill Bit
• 37/64" Drill Bit
• 3/8" - 18 NPT Tap
• Socket to fit the Tap you have
• Chisel
• Small, flat top punch
• Hammer
• Needle Nose
• 3/8 Drive 10mm
• 3/8 Drive Ratchet
• 3/8 Drive 6" Extension
• Shop Towel or Microfiber cloth

Parts Required:

• Your preferred 3/8" NPT fitting. There are many, many types of brass NPT fittings available.
• Your preferred angled adapter that matches the NPT fitting you chose and matches your preferred method of connected the breather hose. There are also many options for this, as well.
• Teflon Tape
• WD40

I'm sure there are many ways to fix this issue, but this is a simple way to really improve the overall reliability of this often overlooked part of the differential. Here's the step by step process to repair this issue:

• Using a 10mm socket, remove the bolt for the locker wiring feed-thru.

• Push on the red clip and press down to remove the feed-thru connector.

• With the locker harness hanging outside the housing, push a shop towel or rag into the hole far enough to where you can see it through the breather tube hole.

• Using a needle nose, finish breaking the tube off until you're left with a nub on the pressed in portion of the fitting.

• We're going to cut the inside of the breather tube out slowly with drill bits and go up in size until the wall of the breather tube is thin enough to break off.

• Drill the breather tube out incrementally using these drill bits: 11/32", 3/8", 13/32", 7/16". Make sure to use your magnet to clean up all of the shavings after each one.

• Once you've finished with the 7/16" drill bit hole, use your chisel and hammer and hit the top portion of the tube and it should break off. Break off all of the top pieces and you should be left with the portion inside the hole.

• Using your flat top punch, tap very lightly on the portion left inside the hole. You should be tapping this piece into the rag on the inside. Once the piece has been pushed out, use your needle nose to pull it back out of the hole. It will likely break into at least two pieces.

• Use your magnet to clean up the shavings and pieces of the factory breather tube the best you can.
• Using your 37/64" Drill bit, drill the leftover hole in the housing out.
• Use your magnet again to clean up.
• Grab your 3/8" NPT Tap and spray it with WD40.

• Line up the tap with the hole as straight as you can.
• While applying pressure downwards, turn your tap and begin to cut threads. You will need your ratchet and a socket that fits on the end of the tap to do this. The L/H UCA bushing will be in the way of using your traditional tap handle.
• Cut threads slowly and carefully. If the tap gets too full of metal, back out the tap 1/2 turn, and then continue.
• Make sure to cut the threads deep enough. I usually go about 3/4 the way down the tap and then check to see if the fitting will catch the threads.
• Once you have your threads cut, clean up everything the best you can.
• Pull the rag out of the hole very slowly while trying to pull the top portion ,that got all the metal on it, out first.
• After this, you're done. Apply teflon tape and screw in your fittings.
• Reinstall the feed-thru connector.
• Buy some Chick-Fil-A for dinner. You deserve it.

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[MarkY3130]

This is excellent. Thanks for sharing it

 

[Gorilla57]

Hell yeah!!!! Nice write-up. I'm sure this will help plenty of people.

 

[jeep_gpeck]

Thank you for this post! I get to utilize this information soon! Gathering supplies to fix my breather. now just to locate those npt fittings.

 

[chevymitchell]

Thank you for this post! I get to utilize this information soon! Gathering supplies to fix my breather. now just to locate those npt fittings.

I found all these fittings at ACE Hardware. They actually had a really awesome selection of fittings... a lot more than Lowe's had here locally.

 

[Extremneon]

Dang... I just broke my while loosing the upper control arm. So these are not thread and pressed in by Dana?

68398729AA

I guess I will be taping the axle housing.. ugh...

Thank you for the write up, just order up some new drill bits and 3/8 - 18npt tap.

 

[chevymitchell]

Dang... I just broke my while loosing the upper control arm. So these are not thread and pressed in by Dana?

68398729AA

I guess I will be taping the axle housing.. ugh...

Thank you for the write up, just order up some new drill bits and 3/8 - 18npt tap.

If you can get yours to unscrew, then you'll be golden. I could not get mine to move without breaking the fitting even more. Decided to just drill it out and upgrade.

PS: I did call Dana before doing anything and they explained to me that it's pressed in.

 

[SteveSRT]

Thanks for making this thread. I don’t even know what I did to break mine but you saved me a ton of time mentioning it’s pressed in and not threaded.

 

[Mikester86]

Was the axle removed from the Jeep for this repair? If not, what parts were removed to allow enough access to perfom the repair?

 

[chevymitchell]

Was the axle removed from the Jeep for this repair? If not, what parts were removed to allow enough access to perfom the repair?

I had the axle out, but if you had the right drill, you could make it work.

I would drop the axle as if you were swapping springs, and have a few things out of the way like the Trackbar and maybe that upper control arm. It wouldn’t be too bad with the right tooling.

If you wanted to ensure a straight hole and that you don’t break the tap or get shavings into the housing, then take the axle out. It’s only an hour or two more work.

 

[Mikester86]

I had the axle out, but if you had the right drill, you could make it work.

I would drop the axle as if you were swapping springs, and have a few things out of the way like the Trackbar and maybe that upper control arm. It wouldn’t be too bad with the right tooling.

If you wanted to ensure a straight hole and that you don’t break the tap or get shavings into the housing, then take the axle out. It’s only an hour or two more work.

Thank you. I have less than 20,000 miles on my Jeep. I scheduled a service appointment. I am interested in how/if they will handle this.

I have a Rancho 2" sport lift and 35" tires on our JLUR. I am anticipating them blaming it on those factors, even though there is more than enough slack in the breather hose to function flexed out.

 

[chevymitchell]

Thank you. I have less than 20,000 miles on my Jeep. I scheduled a service appointment. I am interested in how/if they will handle this.

I have a Rancho 2" sport lift and 35" tires on our JLUR. I am anticipating them blaming it on those factors, even though there is more than enough slack in the breather hose to function flexed out.

I'm also curious how a dealer is going to handle it since it's pressed in from the factory... please update the thread when you get some feedback. That would be a good loop to close if people don't want to repair this themselves.

Thanks man.

 

[Mikester86]

I'm also curious how a dealer is going to handle it since it's pressed in from the factory... please update the thread when you get some feedback. That would be a good loop to close if people don't want to repair this themselves.

Thanks man.

I will, appointment is for Friday July 9th. My hope is this isnt the first one, and that they have a game plan.

I am anticipating a phone call from the Service Advisor once he reads my comments regarding the issue. The dealership I typically deal with is booked up for weeks. But this dealership replaced the leaking front crank shaft seal a while back, and its been solid ever since. Fingers crossed on this one.

 

[Mikester86]

If anyone has any ideas on a temporary fix so I can drive it, I am all ears. Thanks.

 

[chevymitchell]

If anyone has any ideas on a temporary fix so I can drive it, I am all ears. Thanks.

You can drive it like it is. Just don't submerge the axle in water. It'll be good to go.

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