Diff Breather Tube Repair - DANA 44 Front Axle

[Mikester86]

Picked it up and all good. Sucked to pay out of pocket, but it’s done.

So for the price of about 2 hours of labor and parts, you too can have your broken axle vent tube replaced at the Jeep dealership.

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[Jammin jimmy]

Kudos to the OP for the idea about taping this out. I would like to add how I made a simple puller to get the broken vent out of the case.

This is what it looked like when I started.

II I ground most of the vent tube off.

I I had to grind off a pretty large casting ridge then I took needle nose pliers and inserted a 1/4-20 nut in the connector hole.

Then take a piece of 1/4 -20 threaded rod about 4 1/2 “ long and put it through the hole in the vent and thread it in the nut.

Then I added a piece of 1” electrical conduit about 1 1/4” long and some washers and another nut. Then hold the lower nut through the connector hole and tighten the upper nut and it will pull the piece out of the case. Mine pulled out very easily.

This is what it looks like when pulled out still on the puller just above the nut.

Better picture of what it looks like.
Then drill and tap like the OP shows.

One other tip when drilling and taping we fill the flutes of the drill bit and tap with grease to catch the chips when we don’t want them to go inside what ever we are drilling. You still want to use a rag and a magnet to catch any strays but you will get most of them with the grease. I thought I had a picture of the finished product but apparently not. I hope this helps. Again to the OP excellent idea.

 

[chevymitchell]

Kudos to the OP for the idea about taping this out. I would like to add how I made a simple puller to get the broken vent out of the case.

This is what it looked like when I started.

II I ground most of the vent tube off.

I I had to grind off a pretty large casting ridge then I took needle nose pliers and inserted a 1/4-20 nut in the connector hole.

Then take a piece of 1/4 -20 threaded rod about 4 1/2 “ long and put it through the hole in the vent and thread it in the nut.

Then I added a piece of 1” electrical conduit about 1 1/4” long and some washers and another nut. Then hold the lower nut through the connector hole and tighten the upper nut and it will pull the piece out of the case. Mine pulled out very easily.

This is what it looks like when pulled out still on the puller just above the nut.

Better picture of what it looks like.
Then drill and tap like the OP shows.

One other tip when drilling and taping we fill the flutes of the drill bit and tap with grease to catch the chips when we don’t want them to go inside what ever we are drilling. You still want to use a rag and a magnet to catch any strays but you will get most of them with the grease. I thought I had a picture of the finished product but apparently not. I hope this helps. Again to the OP excellent idea.

Very nice addition to the thread, man. Appreciate the pics.

 

[KHR Racing]

Kudos to the OP for the idea about taping this out. I would like to add how I made a simple puller to get the broken vent out of the case.

This is what it looked like when I started.

II I ground most of the vent tube off.

I I had to grind off a pretty large casting ridge then I took needle nose pliers and inserted a 1/4-20 nut in the connector hole.

Then take a piece of 1/4 -20 threaded rod about 4 1/2 “ long and put it through the hole in the vent and thread it in the nut.

Then I added a piece of 1” electrical conduit about 1 1/4” long and some washers and another nut. Then hold the lower nut through the connector hole and tighten the upper nut and it will pull the piece out of the case. Mine pulled out very easily.

This is what it looks like when pulled out still on the puller just above the nut.

Better picture of what it looks like.
Then drill and tap like the OP shows.

One other tip when drilling and taping we fill the flutes of the drill bit and tap with grease to catch the chips when we don’t want them to go inside what ever we are drilling. You still want to use a rag and a magnet to catch any strays but you will get most of them with the grease. I thought I had a picture of the finished product but apparently not. I hope this helps. Again to the OP excellent idea.

Thank you!!!!!!!!!

 

[KHR Racing]

Thank you for posting this. I will be using these ideas presently.

 

[Jammin jimmy]

I hope it works out for you.

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