Rear Axle Oil Leak

super22ll · Aug 14th, 2003, 11:04 PM

I was washing my ol daily driver, '93 two wheel drive KA24E, the other day and noticed a little oil on the passenger side rear wheel. I assume I have a seal gone bad. Hanes showes one inner and one outer. I was wondering if anyone had this problem before and how difficult it was to change the seals. After 125000 miles I expect these kinds of minor problems. I was also wondering what kind of synthetic rear end oil you guys reccomend and where it can be bought. Locally would be better, ie autozone or advanced auto. As always, any advice would be appreciated. Thanks. LL

1997XETruck · Aug 15th, 2003, 11:43 AM

I've used the Mobil 1 synthetic in my Q differential for several years... seems like good stuff and it's available at AutoZone and Advance Auto. Put dino oil in the truck for the first change. I think I was draining the original 105K stuff, so I wanted to clean it up a little before putting the good stuff in.

Heath

BFinlay · Aug 16th, 2003, 10:36 PM

i just did this myself about two weeks ago. but i have a 94 path so it might be a little different.

you can do the inner seal yourself but the outer one will need to by done by nissan or a machine shop because the whole bearing assbly needs to be pressed apart.

you will most likely need a slide hammer and a wheel adapter. you can rent this at pepboys or autozone.
to start take of the wheel and drum. then you will need to disconnect the e-brake cable. and push it back through the backing plate. you may need to take apart the whole brake to do this. then you will need unbolt the brake line from the backing plate. now unbolt the 4 bolts that hold the backing plate on to the axle tube. now attache the slide hammer to wheel studs and pull out the axle. next you will need to pull out the old inner seal and replace it with a new one. the seal is a pain to get out. now that the new seal is in you need to slide everything back into place and re hook everything up. you will also need to blead your brakes when this is over. it is also easier to drain your diff before you start to do this.

hopefully that will give you a good idea of what you have to do.

Brian

super22ll · Aug 17th, 2003, 05:44 PM

Thanks for the info. I'll be on a four day weekend this coming weekend and I will tackle it then. I'll let you know how it turns out.

jadcock · Aug 17th, 2003, 06:38 PM

Just a small tip -- when you reinstall the drain plug on the pig (if you drain that fluid), go ahead and put on some teflon tape to keep leaks away. I filled my pumpkin with a full 3 or 4 quarts of semi-synthetic (at about $8/bottle -- that's not even the Mobil 1 stuff) only to have a slow leak through the plug. I just put regular lube back in because I didn't want to stomach another 40 bucks (with 7% tax) to refill it, but at least it's staying put now!