Ford 7.3L Power Stroke (1999-2003) :: Oil Leaking Down The Axle From Front Differential
Jun 5, 2017
I am on the fence with getting rid of my 7.3. Here's why. Whenever I crawl underneath the truck or look under the hood I see all these different oil/fluid leaks. She has less than 200k miles and I use her to tow my boat to go fishing.
Right now I am trying to weigh if the truck is worth keeping or selling and then getting a new/newer truck.
Here are some leaks. One is obviously oil and coming from what I guess is the front main seal. I really don't know. The other leaks going onto the U-joint look like oil leaking down the axle from the front differential.
I'm growing a business and not sure if I have time to play mechanic. However, everyone I talk to always exclaims, "You got a 7.3?! You luck SOB!" and I am kinda getting the feeling letting her go would be a mistake. FWIW, she is paid off.
Other than a slight wobble in the steering wheel at speed, she runs like a hoss.
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I'm trying to figure out what axle I have on a 2002 f350 single wheel 4x4 so I can order a replacement seal. So this morning I got to work and noticed that am oily guild was dripping from the front of my rear differential where the drive shaft hooks into it. I figure it the seal, so when I went to look up the repair kit they list several different axle options because of gearing, what axle I have as there wasn't a in owners manual with the truck. Who can I find out what axle I have so I can buy the repair kit for it...
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My 7.3 has a leak on the front diff passenger side. It went into a shop for repair and they did both seal but the passenger side came out with a worse leak than it went in with. So just looked this morning and small pool of oil under the ujoint area on the concrete. Its booked in again to be fixed under warranty repair (place that fixed it, repair came with 2yr warranty) on Wednesday next week - was the earliest I could get.
Question - can i keep driving the truck? I'm making a wild assumption that I can unless I use 4 wheel drive. My intention was to just keep topping up the diff to ensure there is fluid in it. It's the work truck so wouldn't be good to be without....
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Can I re-use this shaft or is that ring around it no good. The ring is around where the bearing sits. It is a circumferential hump all the way around.
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I took the front axle shafts out a couple months back and remember NOT seeing any differential fluid in the axle shaft housing. But then when I took the tire off tonight.. I noticed diff fluid leaking from from the axle shaft dust seal ?
1. I didn't think diff fluid flowed up near those front dust seals ?
2. That's a brand new dust seal so I'm guessing some debri must be in the connection causing the leak ?
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I have 1999 F350 7.3 Crew Cab 4WD. I took it on a 4 hours trip towing a trailer to haul a small tractor on it. after 3 hours of driving, I started hearing grinding and metal chewing sound coming from the front axle or close the wheel hubs. It was awful, terrible, ... you name it!!! I had to continue or I will lose the tractor I paid for already. The sound was coming for 1-2 seconds each 500 feet or so. It never stopped or changed. I pulled over to see what's going on and found the following:
1. Left shock is leaking badly
2. Right locking hub is gone (not sure if the truck had one before). I bought this truck last year, but I never had to use 4x4 and I know the 4x4 motor by the transfer case is missing and the nipple on the transfer case is set to the 2wd position so the front drive-shaft does not turn.
I took the front shock off and continued to drive without it, the noise did not go away.
I pulled over again and this time I noticed that the dust cover on each end of the front axle is missing too. I have never worked on these axles before, but I jacked one side, and sure enough, gear oil was leaking from the other side. I took the plug off the front differential and stuck my finger in it. I felt a creamy brown-greenish stuff in the differential. The consistency is like mayonnaise or thin peanut butter. I put the plug back on and went to pick up the tractor because I did not want to miss it fooling around with the truck on the highway.
The truck made it there and back (almost 5 hours total after the break down). The sound never stopped every 500 to 1000 ft.
After getting home safely, I took the other locking hub off, and took it for a test drive. I did not hear the noise, but now my right brakes are locking.
I took of the wheels and saw that the retaining snap ring (C clip) for the front axle on the right side came off by hand. I took the washers behind it off. Took the calipers and brackets off. I have never done front axle rebuild. I am not sure what has been damaged and what's still good.
Right of the bat, I know, at least, I need 2 shocks, one brake caliper and pads.
My questions are:
1. Is it possible to take the front axles off on both sides and make it 2wd for now until I have the money to rebuild the axle?
2. Could I use the same hubs? or they are most likely damaged and how to tell?
3. How to tell if the differential is damaged/needs rebuilding?
4. How to tell if the axles/spindles are damaged?
5. Is there a step by step tutorial to rebuild the axle with all seals, bearings, ...etc? How hard is the job for a hobbyist? I do most of my repairs myself, and I was lucky at 36 years old, I never had to rebuild a differential.
6. What else I might have damaged in the process of driving it that long with the noise? How do I tell if I did?
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I've had my early 99 f350 7.3L for a lil while now. Starting to see few problems surfacing. while doing my weekly fluid levels found oil in coolant and after looking around found oil covering bottom of driver side engine. As far as i can see it looks like oil cooler leaking from front side.. Should i just replace oil cooler or rebuild?
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My 2013 f-250 with 6500mi. has peeling paint on the front differential and the axle.. I sprayed it with some fluid film for now.
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The rear differential on my truck has been whining for the 2 years I've owned. The fluid has been changed but of course that didn't really solve anything. I'm trying to decide if I want to rebuild it. Was looking at buying the USA Standard brand rebuild kit, ring and pinion, and axle bearings and seals. How hard would/will this be to do myself?
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...when changing the fluid and RTV'ing the rear differential cover?
Usual suspects: Brake cleaner, Simple Green, soap and water, gasoline, etc.
I've never serviced one, but figure it is like this:
1. Drain
2. Remove cover
3. Spray, clean, rinse, whatever all the innards
4. Wipe and dry
5. Inspect. For what, I have no idea
6. Black RTV cover back on, replace drain plug, remove fill plug
7. Refill with 75w-140w Mobil 1 Synthetic (not sure what it is, but I looked it up here some time ago and bought enough)
8. Fill to within a finger tip's dip in the fill hole
I've had the RTV and oil for a while, but it's supposed to hit 59F here on Saturday with no rain!!! Time to crawl on the floor and get it done.
I didn't see any problems with my cover, so going to forgo the new aluminum finned cover this time
Guess the biggest question is what should I use to clean/flush the rear end?
This is 2002 Excursion WITH LSD rear differential. 4WD.
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My truck (02 7.3L cc) started making a grilled ding type of vibration when I would let if the throttle. I felt the axle going into the rear differential was a bit loose, so I took the cover plate off. The pictures below show where the pinion I think is hitting, sort of like the bearing is allowing front to Rear differential scaring from movement. Rear movement.
How difficult is a rebuild, and is there anything I should be careful of?
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I currently have the rear axle shafts off the truck. I took off, cleaned then put on the rear diff cover.
I live in an area that does nothing but form rust anywhere and everywhere in very little time.
I don't want rust forming in the rear diff gears - can I fill the rear diff up ? Or will it leak out of the rear shaft holes ? Can I fill it up halfway then ?
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Passenger differential axle seal is leaking again. It was replaced twice already. My mechanic checked the seal...its not damaged. Its not a excessive leak. Both times, the seal were replaced with OEM. I don't want to buy another one and replace it.
Its a 1995 Celica, 5SFE, 5-speed MT. 98k miles.
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I picked up an '01 F-350 standard cab and bed plow truck for parts and am preparing to swap the rear axle into my E99 F-250 SB unless someone gives me good reason to just swap the carrier. I want the LS differential. I will also do hutch/harpoon on the tank so I figure that bed removal will make both jobs easier. Once I have both beds off I can give things a visual and see what lines and cables need to be changed out as well. I believe that there is a difference in the passenger's side caliper but I am not 100% on that and I don't know what I will need to change if anything. I am hoping that my drive shaft will remain.
Thus far I have gotten to rotted bed off of the donor truck. The bolts would not come out and I had misplaced my cutoff wheel so out came the torch. In the process of blowing the heads off of the bolts I also blew some holes in the bed but didn't care, it's scrap. Fortunately I did not blow any molten steel onto the fuel tank. I was able to lift the bed far enough to reach the light plugs in the rear and disconnect them without damaging them. The large one that is still attached to the frame goes to the trailer lights and could have stayed connected. The two smaller ones with ends up feed the tail lights and license plate lights, they have to be disconnected.
The bed is shot so I just hooked chains into the rear pockets and drug it off with the front end loader. I did have to get off a couple of times and unsnag it from the frame. Oops, and to cut off the fuel tank fill and vent hoses.
The bolts are extremely rusty and wouldn't budge so I cut them off.
The organ recipient has a spray on bed liner that I had to cut through to get to the bed bolts, the heads look like new and the bolts look like they will all come out for me.
And this is what the nuts and clips look like that mount the bed to the frame.
Yep, there is plenty of rust.
Also, I found two safety cables wrapped around the bed frame and main frame mid bed that will need to be disconnected before bed removal. These are on the E99 SB only, not on the '01 standard bed.
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So my outer axle seal went out on the passenger side again after only 4,000 miles. What gives!? I can't figure out why its burning up. My hubs seem to be working correctly. I've only used the 4wd a hand full of times since I replaced it. Any thoughts?
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Well I just noticed the rear axle air vent and it is blocked.. I ordered a new one and will replace it once it arrives.. what can I expect once I replace it?
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It's time to replace my axle bearing and hub assembly. Looking at RiffRaff site they show 3 different models. Early 99, fine course and course. I think I have the course thread but just want to make sure before I order. My truck is a L99 and I don't have the abs sensor. Looks like all 3 have come with the abs sensor. Do I simply not connect the sensor? Here's a pic of what i have. Course thread?
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I have a 2015 F250, cc 4X4 PSD. It has 22,000 miles on it. I notice a small quarter sized drop of oil after it is parked by the right side front wheel. It is coming from behind the dust cover and universal joint where the axle goes into the tube. I dont know how long it has been leaking. My issue is I am about 800 miles from home on a camping trip, have to go back to work Monday, and lcoal dealer here can't take it in till next week. So, if the hubs are not locked and the truck is in 2 wheel drive, the gears shouldn't be turning right? I assume it is ok to drive home. I didn't want to pull the plug and check the fluid because if any runs out and leaves a stain on the cover, I don't want ford trying to deny warranty claiming I messed with it first.
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I noticed the other day after my truck was parked on a bit of a angle there was diff oil from the passenger side on the ground. reading a bit on here i learned the axle seals are way in the front housing close to the front diff. and yesterday driving a heavy load around my front brake driver side got stuck on a bit and over heated and was smoking, couldn't even touch the rim it was so hot. anyway about this axle seal i got the hub off right now but cant seem to pull out the axle assembly through the knuckle but i see i have to pry and most likely wreck that seal. Looking for a link of piuctures or how to replace the axle seals in the housing.
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Looking to change out my front differential cover tomorrow, cover is pitted, rusted, corroded, and leaking at the seals. While under there I want to inspect the vent for the axle and differential (and replace if it's clogged - which I believe is leading to the seal leaking). Looking for info about the vent tube location on the front axle? Thought I read somewhere it was on the cover itself, turns out that's a negative.
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What is the procedure to remove the parking brake cable from the axle? It looks like the cable has a locking device like the fuel lines but heavier. How do you get that thing out of there without destroying it?
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