Do It Myself or Let Them Try Again?
- Thread starter k1n3k
- Start date
It's a NO-GO in all the shops I've been in.
Probably another ride I’m not tall enough to get on.
The kids have been saying it, it proves they are mental midgets. Rizz skibidi no cap or something like that.
All I know is their drip is bussin, fr fr.
I built a rig for a guy once. We put near new, sub 100 mile Dana 44's built by G2 under it that he traded his Rubicon 44's for. He drove it home, drove it around for a month and then called me to ask when he could drop it off to get the leaking axle seals replaced. Sorry buddy, I didn't install the seals, build the axles, or anything else plus this was a swap and there is no money involved for you getting the axles in place of yours.Thank you once again. These things are good to know.
Yeah, but you should take care of any problems.
I'll take care of anything that is my fault or that I messed up somehow.
You need to fix this.
Tell you what, you take your rig to your buddy's shop that builds axles all the time. Have him replace the axle seals and then tell you what caused them to leak. If he can even begin to point a finger at anything I did, have him send me the bill and I'll pay it.
Well, we both know you didn't do anything wrong.
Okay, say that again and keep saying it all the way to wherever other than here that you take it to get the seals fixed.
Apparently that finally sunk in when he said it so I never heard another word from him about it.
Huh?! Run that by me again…
I don’t step foot in a shop. If I get to the point I have to I’ll sell all my rigs because at that point it’s time for me to move out of this hobby.
no cap, but 6 7 is skibity ohio
Not me, I will hire a professional in a minute-
The decision usually gets down.to - Do I have the knowledge time and skill as well as the tools or do I even really want to do the job?
At the same time, there are things I absolutely love to do.
But I can’t argue. There’s nothing like the satisfaction of doing things yourself and knowing they’re done well.
My experience and would be my advice, take these details and education. Being a knowledgeable customer, if you’re not a jerk and never listen, isn’t bad.
Also, I wouldn’t go in hot. They’re wiling to stand behind it, just make sure with some pics what went wrong.
Coming in hot, usually creates a worse situation.
There are times it’s needed, but that’s the backstop for me.
Also, I wouldn’t go in hot. They’re wiling to stand behind it, just make sure with some pics what went wrong.
Coming in hot, usually creates a worse situation.
There are times it’s needed, but that’s the backstop for me.
I've been on both sides of the counter and I can assure you, I am aware. I worked as the fabricator in a high end custom car shop, and worked with customers as a job shop machinist. I also have worked helpdesk in IT. much like in electronics, heat means resistance lol.
This is the same shop that caused this issue:
Basically, I went in for a tire rotation and a front axle shaft u-joint. I didn't have a press for the u-joint so I had them do it. Someone didn't get all the lugs tight and it drove great for about 70 miles before I got noise and vibration, then about 10 seconds after the noise started, the jeep converted to tricycle mode and the front tire rolled off into the sunset. No one was hurt, damage was pretty repairable. No sheet metal damage, just fender flares and everything attached to the knuckle.
Once this happened, I tried not be a dick and I worked with them to find some solutions we all were happy about. In the end, I saved them a chunk of change by not using the emergency tow truck UHP called to get it all the way back to their shop, I got another set of tires mounted and balanced for free to avoid a rental, and they happily replaced all 4 fender flares and the 2 mud skirts, plus all of the other damages. They won because I easily could have cost them a couple thousand more with no material benefit to either of us, and I won because I got the original issue fixed plus my fender flares replaced for free AND my samurai tires mounted and balanced for free.
I came out ahead overall minus some PTO, they came out about as good as they could hope for in the situation. Coming in hot probably would have had worse outcomes for both of us.
I think a reoccurring theme here is I need to buy a damn press lol. Also, a TJ drives pretty good on 3 wheels still and makes a pretty neat fireworks show if you drive it wrong enough.
speeding_infraction
TJ Enthusiast
That tells me that they probably have one bad egg in the shop. We had a similar incident, but it was with the back right side on a dually truck. Thankfully the wheel didn't come off, but the hubcap did. They bought us a new wheel and took care of it for free. Said that the kid that did it had already been written up several times
Alright, So status report. My damn phone died so no pics... However I'm not thrilled with the quality of parts. All the stuff was bought from O'criminey auto parts. So I expect I'll be doing the job over again in a year or two.
The reason the seal leaked was the seal lip was cut. It was a clean cut, like a razor did it. We found that the seal was cut after removing everything from the shaft. Everything was installed correctly, lip on the retainer facing inwards, seal orientation correct, bearing seated against the shoulder, outer race seated in the axle housing fully, collar seated to the bearing.
So, the installed new parts, and reassembled. All seems good so far. I took it up to the mountains that night. Left about 10 pm and decided to just drive up the pavement through Monte Cristo. It start off from Huntsville UT, and ends up in Woodruff, UT. Then I made a quick jaunt to Randolph, UT. By the time I got up there, I thought "Well Old Canyon is just right there, I might as well cruise up there a bit too". I know of a road that leads from Old Canyon to Pole Canyon and took that as a 'test' for the new parts. Pole Canyon ties back into Old Canyon, and I thought that would make a good loop. Well, at some point I made a wrong turn ended up back on Old Canyon somehow, and ended up in the middle of the Mote Cristo range. Ended up driving through the forest roads to Hardware Ranch and back to pavement. Not the short test I had in mind, but ended up something like 250 miles in the dark with about 100 of them on dirt.
The reason the seal leaked was the seal lip was cut. It was a clean cut, like a razor did it. We found that the seal was cut after removing everything from the shaft. Everything was installed correctly, lip on the retainer facing inwards, seal orientation correct, bearing seated against the shoulder, outer race seated in the axle housing fully, collar seated to the bearing.
So, the installed new parts, and reassembled. All seems good so far. I took it up to the mountains that night. Left about 10 pm and decided to just drive up the pavement through Monte Cristo. It start off from Huntsville UT, and ends up in Woodruff, UT. Then I made a quick jaunt to Randolph, UT. By the time I got up there, I thought "Well Old Canyon is just right there, I might as well cruise up there a bit too". I know of a road that leads from Old Canyon to Pole Canyon and took that as a 'test' for the new parts. Pole Canyon ties back into Old Canyon, and I thought that would make a good loop. Well, at some point I made a wrong turn ended up back on Old Canyon somehow, and ended up in the middle of the Mote Cristo range. Ended up driving through the forest roads to Hardware Ranch and back to pavement. Not the short test I had in mind, but ended up something like 250 miles in the dark with about 100 of them on dirt.
WELL THEN, the saga continues.
That didn't last long. Its leaking again. I guess this is a case of 'if you want it done right, do it yourself.' I went outside to start measuring travel for the lift I'm going to be installing and noticed I smelled gear oil. Looked down, and sure as shit its drooling again. Puddle in the dirt driveway levels of leak. Not nearly like it was last time, but I want NO leak, not a lesser leak. I think I'll give them a call tomorrow and see what they're willing to do for a refund or.... something. Either way, I'm installing new parts myself. I think the O'Criminey auto parts they used have, yet again, bit me.
That didn't last long. Its leaking again. I guess this is a case of 'if you want it done right, do it yourself.' I went outside to start measuring travel for the lift I'm going to be installing and noticed I smelled gear oil. Looked down, and sure as shit its drooling again. Puddle in the dirt driveway levels of leak. Not nearly like it was last time, but I want NO leak, not a lesser leak. I think I'll give them a call tomorrow and see what they're willing to do for a refund or.... something. Either way, I'm installing new parts myself. I think the O'Criminey auto parts they used have, yet again, bit me.
FWIW, I helped Dale (on this forum) rebuild his Dana 44 and we had two leaking axle seals.... TWICE!
I've installed many seals in my day and never had an issue. One leak, okay - maybe I screwed up or there was a defect that I missed during install, but four leaks?? No way...
The first two leaks were with AutoZone brand seals. The next two were Timken. Shafts were fine and super smooth, and all seals went it perfectly.
Saw a similar issue noted on a few pages where the only "fix" was a set of Spicer-branded seals. Did the axle seals a third time and viola! Not even a hint of a drip! Needless to say when it came time to get parts for my daughter's JKU Dana 44 rear that I'm rebuilding, I absolutely went with the Spicer seals (and bearings and retainers)!!
I've installed many seals in my day and never had an issue. One leak, okay - maybe I screwed up or there was a defect that I missed during install, but four leaks?? No way...
The first two leaks were with AutoZone brand seals. The next two were Timken. Shafts were fine and super smooth, and all seals went it perfectly.
Saw a similar issue noted on a few pages where the only "fix" was a set of Spicer-branded seals. Did the axle seals a third time and viola! Not even a hint of a drip! Needless to say when it came time to get parts for my daughter's JKU Dana 44 rear that I'm rebuilding, I absolutely went with the Spicer seals (and bearings and retainers)!!
Interesting, I think the Timken/National 9912S and Spicer seal are both great and won't put anything else in my 44. I do prefer the Timken seal because it is collapsing and expanding, which, helps seal to the axle bearing cup and seems to keep a tighter bearing preload. Any other brand I see as a 10-20k mile seal before it starts seeping. ECGS is notorious for using Yukon seals and they are fore sure in that category. I have NEVER had luck reinstalling an axle shaft of any style and it be leak free.
Seals failing in less than 500 miles (seal ID, not OD to cup) are a damaged seal or bad seal surface (sometimes from cutting old bearing off or wear). It is imperative to not damage any of this surface when cutting old bearings off and it would not hurt to polish it with some crocus cloth before reassembling.
In the early days of Revolution, they shipped me 3 sets of rear axle shafts that all leaked within 125 miles. After a couple accusations and fully oil soaking my brakes, they came clean and said their was a surface finish + wrong grease issue. I feel your pain
You like to gamble more than myself. In the end, tough to beat the OEM part.
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