Picture of greasy front differential cover - Is this normal for 10K miles?

[californiajeeping]

See picture below. Is it normal to have this much grease/grime on the front differential cover? It is around the bottom set of bolts, no grease or grime at all under the lip of the gasket, just around the bolts. It has 10K miles, JLUR, rarely have put it into 4hi or 4low, but have. The rear differential cover is 100% clean. Regular driving and dirty roads, no rock crawling yet, never been underwater. And would it hurt anything to check torque on the differential cover bolts (30 ft lbs), for example is there a chance it would rip the gasket or anything making it worse? It wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't torqued all the way as the ball joint nuts were finger tight, track bar bolts, drag link, etc. were all far from the factory torque specs.

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[GhostActual762]

Seems to be oil seeping past the gasket, nothing major unless it’s leaving puddles. Check the torque on em, leaking cover or pinion seal could indicate breather tube is plugged and theres pressure building in the axle housing and the weakest seal leaks first. If it’s torqued proper and not leaving puddles I honestly wouldn’t worry

 

[californiajeeping]

Checked torque. They were fairly loose. I could spin most of the front differential cover bolts 2 full turns before they clicked at 30 ft lbs. Par for the course. I guess I need to check every single nut and bolt on it.

 

[jakebrake]

Checked torque. They were fairly loose. I could spin most of the front differential cover bolts 2 full turns before they clicked at 30 ft lbs. Par for the course. I guess I need to check every single nut and bolt on it.

Like a panhead harley... Clean with a rag in one hans and a wrench in the other.

 

[whiteglad]

I think the cover bolts are grade 10.9 and 8 mm. If so, 30 ft lb is a lot. Spec should be closer to 24 ft lb.

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