Front axle grease seal, 4300

[pat32rf]

Pulled into the woodshed for a bucket of firewood and while I was loading up, the left front tire started leaking grease, or so it looked.
Turned out that the grease is coming from the axle seal between the outer drive cover and the hub shaft.
Normally when I've had a seal go, it is over a period of time. This one went suddenly. The grease shows up on the snow pretty good, even if it is a little milky (waterlogged) and there was none beside my tracks TO the shed, plenty on the way back to the house.
I lifted the front end with the fel and pulled the tire, spun and wiggled everything. Could not locate any serious play, movement or funny noises.
Has anyone had these seals go without also having bearing problems? If its a ball bearing (snap ring) axle and the seal is the only thing gone I might be able to get it locally, saving a three hour's trip to the dealer and back.....

 

[beenthere]

pat
Do a search on "JD front axle leak" and you will get a few hits of other threads that address the question.
Leaking oil on yours seems pretty sudden, but then in snow it can look like a lot.

Maybe milky means some water has been introduced to the gear oil and the water froze...breaking a seal. Don't know that for sure, just speculating.

Go to jdparts to look up the construction and location of the seals in the front axle.

 

[rsewill]

After you fix it, run it for awhile to get it slightly warm and then unscrew the fill plug and you will hear air escaping from the pressure built by a little heat. Some of us vent the plug/dip stick. I just drilled a very tiny hole in the dip stick cover.

 

[pat32rf]

Got it in out of the snow, found it wasn't the seal but what they call the "spindle cap" on the bottom of the "king pin" (my words) housing. The part that turns when you spin the steering wheel.
A metal cover that seems to push in place much like a bearing dust cap on a trailer. Except that these hold the MFWD lubricant in the housing with the aid of some type of loc-tite sealant.... Gonna be fun

 

[beenthere]

The tech manual mentions this cap, but doesn't present it as much of a problem to remove or install. You have the removal figured out ( ) and if me, I'd replace with a new cap.
Must have gotten over some ice or something hard to bugger it up so it popped out.
There have been previous discussions of this cap. So far, I'm getting by with mine (4300) and thanks for the reminder (I had forgotten about that cap).
Good luck with getting a cap back on for some more fun in the snow.

 

[pat32rf]

A buddy just happened to notice the old cap sitting in the driveway, asked me what it was and I told him it was a coffee cup lid, then picked it up.....That's when the lightbulb came on.

Gonna lift the front, pull the tire and try to get things clean and dry enough to seal the cap back in with some epoxy.....as long as it holds till spring and warmer weather.