Front axle stub/cap seals

[Legacy777]

Has anyone had any issues with the seals leaking for the axle stubs on the trans, or the o-ring around the cap?

I have had some minor dripping/leaking coming from there for a while, and just recently it has stopped. I was going to change the seal & o-ring today, but went under there, and it was pretty much fine.

I've checked the trans fluid level and it's good.

[Legacy777]

It's back.......only thing I can think of is the car sat for a little while and didn't pee.

[entirelyturbo]

When I was a dumb kid, I figured it would be a good idea to change those axle stub seals while I was changing my axles, since changing axles is such a HUGE job

After much digging in there with a flathead screwdriver, I realized the seals weren't coming out...

... and that I had torn them open

That very night, the tranny leaked no less than a quart of gear oil on the ground

Finally deciding to let a professional do it, I took it to the dealer and had them replace the seals.

Then, when I asked why the bill was $450 :!:, the mechanic informed me that those seals are held in place by what I believe to be the carrier bearings for the front diff on each side of the transmission. R&R'ing them apparently takes great skill. Supposedly they have to be reinstalled to a specific clearance on those bearings, and during the procedure, it's entirely possible to shift the ring gear and let it fall out of mesh with the pinion gear in the front diff. If that happens, I guess you have to yank the tranny and split the case to fix it.

This is basically what the mechanic at Subaru told me, and I've heard similar things from other people. I wish I knew EXACTLY what was going on and then I could explain it better, but that's the only knowledge I have.

Cliff notes: Been there, done that, screwed a whole bunch of shit up, had a Soob mechanic fix it right, it cost a lot of money, and I learned that I should have never tried it in the first place.

[Subaru for Life]

I'm so glad you've told us about this. I was about to do that on my 4EAT. It's not leaking that bad, but I figured a little bit of preventative maintenance with a screw driver and a couple of seals wouldn't hurt

I think I'll hold off that thougt

[Legacy777]

I'm not so sure about that.

There is a seal and an o-ring on the outer portion of the bearing cap. The cap holds the bearing in place. So when you do remove the cap, there is a chance for the entire assembly to move, but I don't really see how that is a huge deal.

The setup looks very similar as the rear diff assembly, which I disassembled, and did the exact same thing I need to do on the front. The only difference I can see is that the front uses ball bearings in race, vs. the rear's tapered roller bearing design. So the only difference would be how the cap is designed.

I emailed Richard Buckner about this a while ago since he did the tranny rebuild. He didn't make it out to be a big deal, but I'll run it by him again.

Here's a blow up of the front diff.
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8 ... ential.jpg

Pics of the rear diff
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8 ... /reardiff/

[Bheinen74]

Okay, here ya go guys, as I did replace the seal on mine at the same time i had to replace the internal speedometer driven gear.

My dad was a mechanic 40 plus years, on each axle housing retaining there is a stop screw/bolt/bracket. before you simply unscrew this outer housing cover, need to first screw it in then back out to the same original location, this is so you know how far it needs to go back in after the seals are replaced. Also, both sides need to be done the same way, you cant just tighten one side only, they both have to be equal so there is equal play in the diff. mark with a crayon or other marking pen the location where it lines up to the stop screw cover bolt.
hint: for unscrewing the retaining cover thing, we used a large C type vise grip which we could fit into the slotted cover piece. it took some time, as the threads are fine.

Whoever got charged 450 for this job above, really shows the typical raping at a stealership.
good luck.
here a link to pictures http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bheinen/d ... pg&.src=ph

[entirelyturbo]

It's entirely possible I got reamed on it.

But like I said, I was a dumb kid back then, it's done and over with, there's nothing I can do about it, and at least I don't have to worry about it now.

[Legacy777]

Thanks for the pic. That does help. I'll just mark the cap & bolt, and see how many turns until it's all the way in so I can set it to that again.

[Legacy777]

I've been meaning to update this. I went to do this a month or so back.....I started to unscrew the caps holding the bearings, and just didn't really feel like screwing around with it, so I just screwed the bearing retainer cap back in, and I haven't had a drop leaking out since.

So maybe twisting/turning the cap helped reseat the o-ring on the outer portion of the cap.

[Legacy777]

It's leaking again....grrrr

Looks like I'm going to have to drain the fluid & replace the o-ring.