Rear Drive Seepage???

Hey folks! I hope somebody here has seen or heard about this problem and can tell me if it IS a problem! There is a small "weep" hole on the bottom of the rear drive, just forward of where the two pieces join. I have been having a small amount of drive fluid seep out of this "weep" hole and it HAS made a mess of my rear wheel. Does anyone know what this MAY indicate? Or..better yet, the solution for it?

Thanks for any help!

Brett

Are you sure that's the source of the mess? I get some spooge on my rear wheel but it appears to be some of the grease flying out from the rear drive splines.

Randy,

Now that you mention it, the drips I see may not be the source of the stuff on my rear wheel. To tell you the truth I thought the stuff on the rear wheel looked more like spline grease! Now, though...how serious are the drops of fluid coming out of that hole? Why is that hole there?

Thanks,

Brett

Pure speculation.....

Weep hole to allow condensation to drain out?????

If you clean your wheel and the oil reappears then the oil is most likely gear oil from the drive. The front of the drive which couples to the swingarm has an oil seal and an o-ring which if faulty could leak gear oil into the swingarm. The rear end of the driveshaft has an oil seal which is sandwiched between two circlips on the shaft. This driveshaft oil seal keeps contaminates (dirt, moisture, etc.) away from the lithium grease on the driveshaft splines.

You might see an oily residue form at this swingarm weep hole if excess grease has been applied to the driveshaft splines. But, this would be a temporary problem that would go away over time.

Some have said that the rear splines on the driveshaft are lubricated with drive gear oil. However, it would appear that both the front and rear splines on the shaft should be lubricated with lithium grease. The oil seal on the rear of the shaft keeps contaminates out of this grease.

The weephole is just a drain hole. Here's what it looks like from the inside:



As for the splooge on your wheel, I get it at times too. I always figured too, that it was some grease coming out from the spline area. But if you look really closely at the splooge patterns on the wheel, its almost like it can't be coming from there either. Just doen't make sense. I mean, how does it get those streaks on the spokes? A great mystery.

where the rear of the driveshaft fits into the differential pumpkin there is a soft o-ring type seal (but not rubber) around the shaft to keep the diff fluid in the pumpkin and sometimes that allows a little oil to seep out into the area where the drain hole is located.

The driveshaft just slides into the pumpkin so that's why when you do the spline lube you have to be careful as the drive shaft will fall out of the pumpkin to the floor, or your foot.

Check your differential oil.

Everytime I got stuff on my wheel, it was simply that the final drive drain plug crush washer failed and I replaced it. It's happened twice to me so far.

Well, I just finished cleaning the rear wheel and drive areas. Obviously the drops I've seen are differential fluid. However, I just checked the fluid level, and it is right at the bottoom of the opening, where the threads for the nut bottom out. That appears "full" to me.

I have a ride of a couple hundred miles planned for tomorrow. I'll see what mess appears after the ride. It looks like the seal between the shaft housing and the pumpkiin needs replacing, but with what little fluid is making it past it, it's not an URGENT fix, right?

Thanks for all the help...I LOVE this forum!

Brett

My wheels get dirty, but it seems to be just road poop.

No leaks anywhere. I always do the drive shaft and final drive oil myself, so I know it is done right.

  It looks like the seal between the shaft housing and the pumpkiin needs replacing, but with what little fluid is making it past it, it's not an URGENT fix, right?

Click to expand...

Right. You should be fine for this ride you got planned.

You shouldn't have a significant amount of final drive splooge on your wheels.... though a trace amount is pretty common. But if your amount is more than that, I'd look into it a bit more....

I little oil on the wheel will look a lot worse after it collects some brake dust and other spooge from the road. I wouldn't worry about it unless you find your differential oil level dropping noticeably between changes.

Yup, next thing you know you're getting up 4 and 5 times a night to take a leak!

Here's some reading to get you attuned to what a rear drive seal failure looks like: https://www.fjrowners.ws/discus/messages/35/11013.html

And some other reading if you are thinking of sitting the exam: https://www.fjrowners.ws/discus/messages/9/21204.html

I can find plenty more on the archived FJR Owners forum if you feel you need to study a little more.