Doing brakes, lost some oil out of the axle. Have questions!

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RayInStl

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Ram Year
1999
Engine
8.0L V10
Hey guys. New to the site. I'm working on the front brakes of my 99 2500 4x4. I've got the driver side done and back together. When I pulled the rotor/hub assembly from the passenger side, the axle came out a little with it and leaked oil. I assume that's from the diff. I pushed the axle back in, but I don't know much about the front axle on these trucks, so I have some questions:

1) Is that normal or is something broken?

2) If that's normal, am I likely to have messed up a seal by doing that?

3) If the seal and everything is probably ok, what type of oil am I going to need and where do I fill it? I haven't crawled under to see if there's a fill plug on the diff.

I've got everything on hold until I find out. I did some searching, but I don't know if I'm using the correct terms and didn't find anything.

Thanks!
 

dapepper9

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Pretty normal to get a little when the shaft comes out. There's an inner seal that it goes through. If you crawl under the passenger side and look at the axle, you'll notice there's a housing with several vacuum lines running to it. That's where the 4x4 engages up front and its where the fluid came from. It's 2 shafts that get connected by a collar. You'll need to pull that housing cover to verify the collar didn't come off. If it did, you won't have 4x4 when you drive it next and you probably will grind the hell out of it. Might sound kinda alien or something right now but you'll figure out out when you pull the cover, it's very simple once you've looked at it. If you wanna research it a bit, YouTube Dodge CAD or Jeep CAD. Stands for center axle disconnect. Plenty of videos

As for fluid filling, once that cover is back on you'll fill through the differential cover. It has a plug. I wouldn't even worry about it myself of it was anything less than 1/3qt
 
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RayInStl

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That's what I was hoping to hear. I hadn't considered that the coupler could have fallen off when it happened. I'll consider my options. I was really hoping I wouldn't have to open the CAD up.

This truck is a perfect example of project creep. I just wanted to fix my brakes! What started with changing the pads became:

Pads
Rotors
Passenger hub assembly
One new lug nut and wheel stud (previous owner cross threaded...)
Purchasing a shop press
Purchasing a 1 11/16 socket ( and a 45 minute drive to get to a sears that had one)
And a trip to the junk yard to get a "new" knuckle to hub bolt cause I don't trust Dorman for such things.

And this isn't even one of my project vehicles! After this, I guess it is. Maybe I should fix the dash now.... since it's a project.
 
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