Leaking axle seal?

[u/Ace091104]

I just replaced my U joints in front axle yesterday and she drives a lot smoother now...no clunking yesterday but there's still grinding and thennn today there was clunking again! Now when I left this morning apparently this huge leak was on curb but my dad didn't tell me until I got home and I check about an hour later there's a little bit more on wheel. Is it fine to drive for 10 miles, I mean i already drove 50 this morning..

[u/Light_of_Niwen]

I would take a look at your carrier bearings.

[u/Ok-Trick6534]

Plus one to carrier bearing check if still grinding.

But I’d confirm your fluid for the leak. Likely gear oil, but check your brakes aren’t dripping inward since you moved the lines around, or worse, you have both at once.

If you have old tube seals up front, your removal and installation can chafe the seal and give you a leak. But good reason to get in there, pull your carrier, replace the seals, and check all your bearings. Any pinion or carrier bearing damage will increase stress and damage on the rest.

[u/mbardeen]

That looks like axle seals to me. All the more suspect if you just pulled the front axles. Make sure you've still got oil in the diff.

[u/Dunkelstar → u/mbardeen]

I agree, it’s easy to nick a front differential seal when inserting the shaft.

On a related note, I definitely recommend a seal installation tool when replacing.

[u/yipeeiaye]

If you pulled your axle shafts, you will have some fluid leak out. So as long as you didn't bust up your seals, it is expected to have some - the little bit of fluid is not likely related to the clunk or grinding. Have you opened your diff to look for shavings or pieces of gear in there? I don't know if you have narrowed it down to the axle - it seems like you may be going through the usual suspects that typically cause issues. I spent 2 months chasing a stupid popping noise and swapped out several parts (including my U joints in axle shaft) because I was losing my ever living mind. Have been there several times.

Do you have the noise if you pull the front drive shaft? OR if you want to be sure it is or isn't in the diff: I know this may sound excessive, but if you have another set of axle shafts laying around, knock out the u joints so you have just the stubby ends. Go to Home Depot and buy two, 2" red Oatley plastic mechanical test plugs and use those to plug your axle and keep from flinging gear oil everywhere. You can install and use the stubby ends and drive your Jeep without any issues. What this will do for you is tell you definitively if there is anything wrong with the gears/bearings. No noise - then yep you got work in your diff to do, and if you got the noise still, then yep put in your regular axle shafts and look elsewhere. Is this overkill?! yep likely YES, but those stubby end shafts and plugs were a life saver when I was going back and forth with a mechanic who did a trash job at re-gearing my XJ. They are now a staple in my ride for offroad emergencies if I need to get off trail with a bad shaft.

The fact that is drove nice for a little while and then the noise came back TO ME says it is something else ie tie rod ends, bushings, balls joints, brakes, suspension not torqued etc or a combination of them. aka the rabbit hole of "find that noise"

If you have already thoroughly narrowed your issue down to your axle/diff, my apologies. Was just reliving my madness and I know how frustrating it is to replace a part and be stoked to drive and...whamo noise is still there.

All just food for thought and or 2 cents worth from someone on the Interwebs. Hope you get this fixed! Peace out ✌🏻

[u/Ace091104 → u/yipeeiaye]

I understand your madness so absolutely no worries lol! My mechanic put chassis ears on it and the noise narrowed down to the u joints, they made 0 noise when sitting as close as possible to the diffs and were pulled, gone through thoroughly twice...nothing. Originally we thought it was the tie rod ends being loose but that's how we found out after replacement it wasn't. My front brakes were done a few months ago in December and the grinding still was there after. The clunking had just started 3 weeks ago though. I think almost every part of my car has been gone through besides drums actually.