Rear Differential Leak

This is the leak and where it is leaking from my rear differential. I was having a squeaking sound when reversing, and read that my U Joints were more than likely going bad anyways, so no better time I guess than when I'm going to have the drive shaft off already.

I'm not a huge gear head, but I'm a finish carpenter, and enjoy doing my own work on my vehicles (do a lot of work on my bike.) Just wondering what seal exactly I'm going to need to replace, and how hard it is. Read up a little on it and read that there might be a crush bearing in there, and was wondering if this was true for this generation of truck.

It is a 2006 Dodge Ram 1500 Mega Cab 4x4, 5.7L Hemi. Just wondering how much of a pain this is going to be to change, and possibly the U-Joints as well. Have the weekend, so any talk throughs, links, ect, would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

PS: It's leaking enough to where I've owned the truck for about a month now, and it had it's first drop come off it, just a big fan of preventative maintenance, so would like to take care of it, before it becomes a bigger problem. Thanks.

Bump for you.

Do a search for replacing your pinion seal. I know I have to do mine, but I'm not sure I wanna tackle it myself. I know there are a few threads on here about doing it. Take a look! If you do it, it would be great if you posted about how you did it! Take pics too!

Pinion seals are not exactly a do it yourself project. The biggest issue is getting the nut back on and properly torqued or it will either bind the bearings or work itself off. I suggest that you take it to a shop that does rear end work a lot and have them do it for you.

Not hard at all to change. You'll need an impact gun and a chisel. Take the chisel and mark the pinion and the nut. Make sure it looks like this (- -) and not like this (- _). Remove the nut, replace the seal then reinstall the nut making sure your marks line up. Been doing it this way for years without any problems.

Yep, great Idea. I did it one time and to remove the nut i needed a 3/4" powerbar and had to strap my 215 lb Carcuss to a fence post as not to be pulled under the truck (it was winter). The haynes manual was a little help. Had to be careful and use a chisel to remove the seal. Used a Mopar seal as I think they come double lipped, not sure. When I had my gears done i was told there was a burr on the u- joint spline that goes in and they smoothed it out. After 2 years it leaked again, and had them do it as it was again winter. So next time I'll spend the xtra 125 on that part. Yours should be fine. Also a dab of RTV where the splines meet on the outside in the middle of the U joint part on the carrier is recommended prior to install of the nut, which I used blue threadlocker (all i had) as I re used same nut.

IMO, this is one of those subtle jobs, that is simple to do if you know what to look for and really tough if you don't. There are many ways to get it wrong and you won't get it right by accident and unfortunately taking it to a shop guarantee's nothing. If I was doing it, I would first remove the tires and if the brakes don't drag, test and record the rotational torque of the pinion. Should be close to 25 in/lbs. Replace the seal and reassemble flange. I would reuse the pinion nut or use a new one, either way I'd use Loctite on it and start tighten it reaching for 210 ft/lbs. When you are close, start checking rotational torque again looking for a number close to what you originally had. With pinion nut at 200-210 ft/lbs and pinion rotational torque 20-35 in/lbs you are good to go. If you cannot achieve the proper pinion nut torque without excessive pinion rotational torque then you need to pull it apart and replace the crush coller. Read the manual. A shop will more than likely use a impact wrench and guess at the pinion torque and reach for pinion rotation by feel. Depending on how good they really are will tell you how long it will be before you are replacing it again. Good luck

I have a 2007 5.7 hemi.
how do I know what size seal to use on the pinion?
parts guy said there are 4 different sizes.

05daytona said:

Not hard at all to change. You'll need an impact gun and a chisel. Take the chisel and mark the pinion and the nut. Make sure it looks like this (- -) and not like this (- _). Remove the nut, replace the seal then reinstall the nut making sure your marks line up. Been doing it this way for years without any problems.

Click to expand...

Same, but with a paint marker.

Many seals replaced and many years gone by without an issue.

Yost said:

I have a 2007 5.7 hemi.
how do I know what size seal to use on the pinion?
parts guy said there are 4 different sizes.

Click to expand...

There are the axle seals and pinion seal on each axle. He might be talking about the front pinion on a 4wd? Don't know. I've seen two styles of seals, one had a single lip and the other a premium seal from NAPA that had a double lip. It's a 9-1/4" rear end and I haven't had a problem getting one. Bought one from NAPA about 2 weeks ago. Here is one on Rock Auto More Information for SKF 18852

I have a dodge ram1500 (2008).
How do we know the size of the rear differential ring gear ?
I checked with a VIN decoder, but ring gear size is NOT encoded in VIN.
Is there a way without removing the differential cover ?
Event the service manual doesn't mention how to know wich size you own.

?????

jlm said:

I have a dodge ram1500 (2008).
How do we know the size of the rear differential ring gear ?
I checked with a VIN decoder, but ring gear size is NOT encoded in VIN.
Is there a way without removing the differential cover ?
Event the service manual doesn't mention how to know wich size you own.

?????

Click to expand...

If you mean the axle ratio, it is on the build sheet. If you mean the type of axle, that is also on the build sheet. With those two things you can identify everything you need to change ratios (if you need to).

Otherwise put the axle on jack stands, then rotate the drive shaft, count the number of drive shaft rotations per one revolution of the spinning tire.