Alright so the other morning I walked out to my truck and I see oil running from my back tire...and I am like.. WTF? I get up under and look and figured it was brake fluid but the line was intact and the little system check you can do inside the truck even said everything was ok. So I called my mechanic at Ford and he guessed it was an axle seal and he was right...but heres my question.

What in the world would cause an axle seal to go bad?

 

Time and mileage make it go bad, the rubber gets old, dries out and starts to leak. Nothing unusual about it.

 

He is probably right. It can only be an axle seal or brake fluid. If you rbrakes are good and your fluid level has not gone down then its your axle seal.

Just remember, its a piece of rubber around metal. It could have ripped, piece of debris, or could have just worn out. They are not that bad to replace.

How many miles you have on it?

 

Yes, he was right it was the seal and I have already replaced it.

118,000. I would put money on the bet that it was original fluid in the differential as well.

 

oops. I miss read. Well thats good.

Axle seals are a funny thing. I have replaced them at 10k and have seen them go for more than 150K. Just depends on conditions.

 

Haha well let me ask you this...I got a set of train horns under my truck now and they haven't been down there a couple of weeks....do you think they did it?

 

LOL!!! I don't think they are sound wave sensitive.

I wouldn't sweat it. If it starts to leak again within the next couple thousand miles then you may have another problem (worn axle shaft, bad bearings, warped housing) but don't worry about those.

 

Mine went bad and started leaking around 50k miles :/

 

frequent overloading can also cause the seal to fail because of overheating and wear of the bearing.

 

Also make sure the vent line isn't plugged with mud, dirt, or anything. It's the rubber hose coming from the junction of the brake lines and goes up to the frame....it prevents the axle from building up pressure and blowing out the seals

 

I had a '00 that went "bad" after I took delivery (4 miles on brand new truck). Not a big deal- they replaced the pinion seal and I believe put a new driveshaft on it. Was bad since manufactured.

 

alright awesome! thanks guys