Rear Differential Drain

[BRUIN8124]

This was sort of strange and more of an FYI...

Yesterday pulling in to work I notice a new stain/puddle where I park. I park in the same spot every day. Interesting...

I get out and take a quick look underneath to find my rear diff leaking. Great... The oil was splattered around the middle of the underside of the rear diff. I cleaned up what I could with a rag. After work I come out to find a little more had seeped out the area of the drain plug. Thankfully it was not much.

I found the drain plug to be VERY loose. This could have been horrible if I lost all the diff oil while driving and not known it. I tightened it up and torqued it properly and the leak is gone. Good!!!

I changed the rear diff oil about 30K ago. The drain was torqued properly then. How could it have become that loose?

It may be worth taking a look under your rigs. Anyone else ever had this happen?

 

[derekjmiller913]

I changed the rear diff oil about 30K ago. The drain was torqued properly then. How could it have become that loose?

It may be worth taking a look under your rigs. Anyone else ever had this happen?

I can't say how or why it happened to you, but for future maintenance like this, throw some torque seal or a silver sharpie in your kit. Mark the drain plug so you can reference it visually from the back of the truck and see if it has spun loose or moved prior to installation:

Cross Check Online - Buy Cross Check Torque Sealant Online

You can use the fancy tamper proof stuff in the link above, or like I said a silver or colored sharpie can work too, but it's all exposed to weather and the elements so keep it in mind. Marking the drain plugs and such is just a good habbit, because if you go to a dealer and they said they "checked your rear diff fluid" but the torque seal or sharpie mark isn't moved or scuffed, then you know something is fishy. It helps you, it helps others... yatta yatta.

I used this torque seal stuff changing oil for years, and it saved my ass when someone would say that something had come loose, but the torque seal would show it had been tampered with.

I hope this helps.