Water in front differential

[Hasan mahajna]

Hi ,
I had a pinion seal leak , water filled the front diff , i cleaned the most of it with brake clean + oil change 3 times after 200km interval , the front diff still has a grinding sound when 4*4 engages , the front diff had a lot of water for 2 weeks , it stated to get a rust on it ,
Before opening it again for extraction of all the corona and pinion , what you think i need to purchase for the repair ? Pinion seal is new , where the grinding sound come from ? , in the dealer they make the trassmision to get down for fuel line repair and didnt get the driveshaft off as supposed to , ( no metal chunks whithin the oil ,

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[WillysMeow]

Wow, that's not fun, should have drained and refilled the diff immediately after wheeling and it might/probably would have been fine. Sounds like you probably need all new bearings at least but nobody can tell you until it's all apart and inspected.

Did you extend the breather tuber higher? How deep was the water, salt or fresh?

 

[azjl#3]

Brake cleaner not the best idea to clean water, it will cause real fast rusting. If front diff is making noise, you have worse issues than surface rust, you may have rusted the bearings. If you had that much water in there you probably had sand or grit as well. You need to rebuild.

 

[Hasan mahajna]

Thanks , it was water and mud 🥲 , i cleaned it with solar ( diesel) and brake cleaner , i think its a rear bearing , should i rebuild it all , i realized that there is a water after a grinding sound came on while wheeling , 🫠🫠 i am in trouble , i found ( yokon type ) for rebuilding , is it good ?

 

[grimmjeeper]

Did you clean out all the way to the FAD housing. I believe (someone else knows for sure) that even without an active FAD mechanism, oil goes in that part of the axle tube, so there would have been water in there too.

But water (especially muddy water) can get grit in everywhere. You may need to replace bearings.

 

[Hasan mahajna]

Did not , but i will , 🥸 thanks for the advice

 

[alphawolff]

honestly dude i'd just replace everything except the housing. axles, gears, bearings, etc. might be able to inspect the axles i guess

once corrosion begins you cant really stop it from returning

or just go drive it in 4wd until it either fails or stops making noise. that works too

 

[Eyeball]

honestly dude i'd just replace everything except the housing. axles, gears, bearings, etc. might be able to inspect the axles i guess

once corrosion begins you cant really stop it from returning

or just go drive it in 4wd until it either fails or stops making noise. that works too

I would not waste the money on new axle shafts if the goal is simply to solve OPs issue. The axle shaft is nothing more than a metal rod and unless the rust has attacked and pitted the seal mating surface (unlikely) they don't need to be replaced in this scenario.

 

[FLTrailRider]

Bearings

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