Rear axle is soaked, need help...

[Waterloo]

(12-07-2019 )Rawze Wrote:  I believe mine required a 55mm socket.

I also had to grind the face of the socket down a bit to remove its rounded edges, getting a full contact to the nut, as the nut was a bit thin on mine.

Yours may be different. It is not the same brand of axle.

Also, those seals don't just go out like that on a whim. - Something shifted, came loose, or vibrated to cause it. - Or Maybe it got hot? - That, or the axle housing could not breathe at some point and it pushed oil out of that seal. Driving up and down big hills in bad weather, where the breather gets impacted with ice or snow will cause some of this.

Personally, If you have recently been in bad weather situations, I would have cleaned the thing off with some gasoline, followed by de-greaser, ensured it could breathe well, and see if it leaks again right away.

Really not in bad weather, but temps have been up and down, and driving on Chicago roads, that is what I am thinking. I hit one hell of a hole under a narrow bridge downtown by the rail yard. Thank GOD I was going slow, around 20 miles an hour, but it hit so hard I had my little coffee pot flying in the cab. It was dark, nowhere to go but forward with idiots trying to get around me, BANG! That was my last trip for this outfit. I seriously thought something broke, maybe it did.

I'll clean it off today and take a ride, right now I am thinking this is a bit out of my league in regards to tools. If that yoke is stuck in there, I am kind of dead in the water. I have a local shop that can get me in Monday, he has the tools and has done a few of these... I will need a 45mm socket, that I do not have either, I would have to order one, could find nothing locally at that size. Can of worms...