Differential pinion seal

#1

After the Sunday race I noticed a significant leak from the pinion seal on my diff. I don’t recall any bearing noise.

Is it possible for these seals to fail without bearing failure? Car is still on trailer, so I haven’t had a chance to look at it in depth, yet.

Thanks
John

#2

The seal is a wear item, just like the bearing. So either can fail independent of the other. A bad bearing can increase the loads on a seal from shaft wobble, so it isn’t unusual to see both being bad.

#3

Jim,

Thanks for the reply. When I get under there, will it be apparent (through play or other) that the bearing has failed?

Thanks
John

#4

If the pinion flange can be wiggled around, the bearing is done for. But unless you disconnect the drive shaft you might not be able to feel any play. The other way to tell is to disconnect the half shafts along with the drive shaft and spin the flange and see how it feels.