Need Fast Advice/Help for fellow SS

[NEWFDAD]

An SS member "feezy" is driving a Duece from WA to Minot ND and he his having problems with a leaky front axle seal! He is currently 70 Miles east of Missoula, MT . I will be meeting him in Missoula to pick up an M101 trailer that he's transporting for me. I have no Duece knowledge and his question is "should he continue his trip towards ND tonight or try and get the leaky seal fixed before he continues?

I hope there is someone that can answer soon so feezy doesn't get stuck in the middle of nowhere Montana.

 

[Chevytruck]

Depends on the leak, if its a slow leak just keep an eye on it and fill up as you need. Otherwise fix it!

 

[Truckoholic]

Yeah, as long as it is not spewing oil out, it should be okay as long as one makes sure the oil level doesn't get too low in the differential. Really not too big of a problem.

 

[NEWFDAD]

feezy should be here any minute now. He did descibe it as having oil covering the inside of the fender though. Would that be considered spewing?

 

[Truckoholic]

That does sound kind of like "Spewing" ha ha. However, if the front hubs are like the rear, and not even lubed by the gear oil in the differential, I don't think the oil level even needs to be that high. In a normal truck, the oil in the diff is high enough to flow out to the ends of the axles to lube the wheel bearings. But for whatever reason the military decided to do things different, and have seals that keep the gear oil away from the bearings, and just have bearings that have to be packed with grease. That's the way it is on the rear axles anyway. Not positive about the front, but I would imagine it is the same way. And therefore, as long as there is enough oil in the differential to keep the gears in there lubed, and he is driving on flat ground most of the way, the oil should eventually stop coming out from the oil seal as the level goes down. So my personal feeling would be to probably just keep driving til he gets to where it is easier and more convenient to fix it right. Because it is highly unlikely to cause any kind of actual catastrophic failure or anything. That is like I said, unless the front bearings are lubed by that oil, and when it runs out, the bearings are no longer being lubed. Then he would have a problem. But I am really pretty sure the front bearings are probably grease packed, and then it would not be an issue.

 

[NEWFDAD]

Just getting home from Missoula! Turned out it was not an axle seal. A small amount of oil was comming out of what I believe is the end of the crank case breathing tube next to the turbo? It appears that a hose may have attached to it, if so it's missing now. The tube comes out of the valve cover down the right side of the engine and terminates just below the turbo. Is there somthing missing from the end of the tube?

Thanks for the help!

 

[doghead]

That is called the road draft tube/slobber tube(aka crankcase vent).

It should have a rubber hose attached, that goes down to just below the bottom of the axle. It simply helps keep the mess off the axle.

It's fine without the rubber extension.

 

[Maxgussam]

I think the reason for the seals being the way they are has to do with deep water fording. As the pressure from the water increases, the seals are forced tighter against the hub to keep water and debris out.
I'm sure that someone far more knowledgeable than me knows more about the hows and whys of the design.

 

[eddiec]

The main reason for packing thebearings and not having them lubed by the oil in the diff is because of the amount of time that they sit. Extendedperiods of time sitting would not only allow the gear oil to drain from the top of the bearings, but the continued heating ond cooling each day would draw in moisture, which in turn would allow the top half of the bearings to rust, as well as increase the rate at which the axle seals would dry rot.

 

[Maxgussam]

That makes sense.