3 x geared hubs leaking

[Victork2]

Hi Guys

I've checked the forums, found some extremely useful information already, but I just wanted an opinion and hopefully some options for eliminating the issue I have with my hubs.

I went out today and before i left i noticed some weeping aroind the input shaft seal on both rears and 1 of the fronts geared hubs. I hadnt noticed this before but i confess to not having driven it much recently and may not have been as through as i could of been when nipping out on short journeys.

I drove for about 4 miles and then pulled over and checked them again and the weeping was much worse. Especially on the driver side rear.

Now looking at the photos, I'm *assuming* that I have 3 input seals gone, it's a 2004 m1123 so I'm not too surprised if they are aged out. However, it seems odd that 3 have gone at the same time. The driver front one is completely dry.

Tomorrow morning, I'm going to check for a dead lift pump, check the breathers for diesel,check the hub oil levels (I only changed the oil about 100 miles) and see if high or low. Check for diesel contamination and whether the breathers are blocked as well on each hub

My question is, is it common to lose more than one seal at once and can you think of anything else I can check for failure before I just order some seals and call it an age related failure? I'm pretty green with all this so help would be appreciated. Any other tips would be great as I don't mind changing the seals, not at all. I'll do all 4 at once but would like to track down any other possible causes before it repeats itself

Cheers from the uk!

 

[Mogman]

I think you are on the right track.
Checking the levels would be a good start.

 

[Retiredwarhorses]

first off…check and make sure some jar head didn’t fill the geared hub up with gear oil from the half shaft retaining bolt
plug area and not the fill plug on the facing plate, yes….people do this.
make sure your vents are not clogged and Check the torque on the steering arm cover bolts.
there is not a lot of gear oil up top to really leak that bad unless the seal is truly compromise, and Yes, anything is possible, these truck’s sit
for some time and seal dry up, you go driving it and you Will start seeing a lot of leaking seals.

 

[Victork2]

first off…check and make sure some jar head didn’t fill the geared hub up with gear oil from the half shaft retaining bolt
plug area and not the fill plug on the facing plate, yes….people do this.
make sure your vents are not clogged and Check the torque on the steering arm cover bolts.
there is not a lot of gear oil up top to really leak that bad unless the seal is truly compromise, and Yes, anything is possible, these truck’s sit
for some time and seal dry up, you go driving it and you Will start seeing a lot of leaking seals.

Thanks! They all definitely seem to be weeping from the input seal. The fact that one is noticeably worse than the others and one of the is completely dry fills me with a little hope that its just dry seals and teething problems but I'm prepared for the worst !

If I was to take the breather pipes off each hub in turn, then off the lift pump and put some air from an airline up them to check for blockages, would that be the right way to check them or is that going to cause more problems? I'm not 100 percent where those breathers are routed as its dark here and don't want to fire compressed air up there and hurt her more!

I'll check levels in morning and pray there is no diesel in there. I did let the truck run for a few minutes to see if it had any weeping coming out under pressure from diesel being forced in and nothing came out and it really looks and smells like pure gear oil so I really hope its just an age related dry seal issue.

I've only had it a few months and still learning but it's great fun getting to know the old girl

 

[Victork2]

Thought I'd do an update in case it helped anyone else,

Times been a bit limited so I made the decision to change the lift pump for a new one, blow all the breathers out in all 4 hubs (seemed fine, 1 perhaps had a bit of resistance in the line but cleared easy enough) pulled the shaft out on the worst hub and changed the seal, I wasn't sure what i was doing and took my time but had it done in a couple of hours. Refilled the hub with gear oil and took it for a long run. Seems to have completely stopped the leak on that hub and the others seem to be be weeping as before, so I'll repeat the process and that should be solved. Glad to have got to the bottom of it with help from you guys (and David at the hummerpartsguy) so it looks like dried out seals are the culprits!


Was nice to take her put for a spin again! Plus I seem to have a spare lift pump if needed for the future as mine seemed OK to be honest,

Show season in the UK is back on!

Thanks guys

 

[lpcoating]

Did you happen to check the spindle nut lock while you were replacing the seal?

 

[osteo16]

I think you are on the right track.
Checking the levels would be a good start.
[/QU
looking good/ PM is key

Looking good.. PM is key