1998 Defender rear axle leak.

My '98' defender rear axle has an oil leak which is proving difficult to trace. Have cleaned axle breather and pinion oil seal is dry. Spent an hour cleaning the casing then took for a run and rechecked. Leak appears to be coming from one of the studs holding the diff into the case. Is this a simple fix or will the diff need removing to replace gasket?

Presumably you are talking about a leak through one of the diff housing studs?

The gasket is cheap and easy to replace by withdrawing the half shafts a few inches, removing the prop shaft, and removing the diff housing. Then replace the gasket and put it all back together again.

It should take no more than a couple of hours if you include a brew or two

However, I would be a bit concerned as the bolts would form a natural seal if they have been tightened up correctly with the washers in place, so I'd be inclined to check them first.

Please keep us informed of progress.

Thanks for response. Yes I am referring to diff housing studs.
Will check they are in fact tight first..................40NM doesn't seem very tight???

40Nm is roughly 30 ft/lbs, and considering that there is very little fore and aft tension on them as that is all taken up by the prop shaft, the main thing that they do is to prevent the whole lot from spinning around.

So if you have 10 of them around the housing, (if memory serves correctly at this time of morning) each with a shear strength of around 8 tons, I think that you would agree that they should cope with the job!

smbaker said:

Thanks for response. Yes I am referring to diff housing studs.
Will check they are in fact tight first..................40NM doesn't seem very tight???

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you need also to remember they are a very fine thread ,the finer the thread the more force 1 turn exerts on the bolt , 30 lbs ft on a fine thread will give a greater clamping pressure than 30 lbs ft with a coarse