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Leaky Dana 30

Black1990jeep

NAXJA Forum User
Location
california
Rebuilt my Dana 30 front end last year, brand new axles, and seals of course. after last weeks trip, found a puddle of gear oil under the axle disconnect housing, Note this XJ has the factory disconnect removed, it has a one piece passenger side axle, and thus only one seal on that side, at the diff housing. I have manual hubs. 5.5 inch lift

So the new seal on the new axle is leaking

prior to this trip I replaced the stock breather hose with 3/8 inch ID hose, added a brass threaded nipple and ran the hose about a foot or so longer to accommodate the breater axle movement of the lifted springs. This did result in a kink in the hose at a bend but not totally blocking it off. although with heat, perhaps the hose could have softened and kinked a bit more.

My hope is the leak is not a damaged seal, rather an over pressure issue from a breather hose.

How sensitive are these axles seals to pressure? how much restriction in a hose before trouble? Is a completely unkinked, 3/8 hose required for correct breathing, any less resulting in seal issues? I know a kink is not good, but what would be for example be the minimum diameter to prevent a pressure build enough to blow past an axle seal?
Was adding length to the hose and some extra bends enough to cause too much restriction?

How do you all handle the breather?

note I did not run with the fuel filters on the breather tube as I intended too in another
post as per some advice I removed them before running. Used the factory top hat breather caps.

I intend to clean up the oil, and reroute the hose with zero kinks, I will test on street so as to not have axle articulation issues which could yank the hose , and see if the leak returns. maybe get a stiffer kink free hose if it works out
 
I can't see an axle building enough pressure to puke out gear oil out later. those seals are meh at best. not going to hold pressure.

you may have boogered it up putting the axles back in.
 
you running a stock or aftermarket diff cover?

some aftermarket covers have higher than normal fill holes to account for lifted rigs that haven't changed caster angle.
 
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