Oil Leak on Front Transaxle

sandman_2121 · Apr 28, 2010

Several weeks ago, I noticed a few drops of black oil under my 4WD DK55 w/loader. It was just a drop or two here and there & didn't think much about it. But, a few days ago, there was a pretty big puddle & I crawled under to inspect. There is (what appears to be) a grease fitting on the bottom of the front axle & it was leaking oil through the ball-bearing of the grease fitting. I rolled it around a little & eventually got it to stop. I checked the orange fill plug on the top left of the axle & couldn't see oil in there. How much should be seen from the fill plug? Why would oil be leaking from that fitting? Is it 90W oil that should be in there? Any help appreciated...

carpenter383 · Apr 28, 2010

There should be a plug on the side of the axle with orange paint on it. Fill with gear oil until it starts to run out of the side plug.
It shouldn't leak oil out of a grease fitting though, there should be grease behind a grease fitting not oil.
Maybe if you could locate a parts breakdown of the front axle it would help.

sandman_2121 · Apr 28, 2010

Yeah, that's what threw me...But, oil was leaking from the grease fitting on the bottom of the axle. I looked through the orange plug & couldn't see oil, but wasn't exactly sure how full it should be. Is there a check plug I haven't found yet? Thought it was strange to see oil coming backward through that fitting. I thought at first it might be liquefied grease when hot, but was happening cold and in volume...

carpenter383 · Apr 28, 2010

The plug I was referring to is the oil level plug, it's on the side of the axle. The plug on top of the axle is the fill plug.
My neighbor bought a new dk35 recently and it has a sight glass on the front axle.
Maybe an axle seal is leaking internally and letting oil get to the grease fitting?