Changed Diff Fluid...now leaking

[nwquadriders]

Yesterday I changed the front and rear diff fluids. I installed those new "Lube Locker" gaskets and torqued them down as specified. But, I get out to leave for work this morning and the front diff has left a nice little puddle of fluid on my driveway.

I ended up driving my truck to work instead, and will be buying more gear oil on my way home tonight. Do you think that I just need to re-torque the nuts down and it might be good? My thoughts are that either the gasket isn't doing its job, or that maybe I didn't get all of the previous RTV gasket out, and that provided a path for leakage.

Have other folks used these gaskets successfully? I'm pretty close to just tossing that gasket and using good old RTV this time around.

[moneypit]

I hope you figure it out, cause I got 2 of them I was going to install the next time. I am hoping it's just that the old RTV is the problem. Let us know what happens, sorry I can't help.

[nwquadriders]

I figure I'm going to just go get a new bottle of fluid and a brass wire brush on the way home. I'll go over the surfaces again and reinstall the gasket and see how things go.

I'm considering pumping the fluid out and reusing it... But to be safe, I know I'll end up just putting new stuff in...

The rear one seems to be holding just fine, so we'll see.

[Belfast]

I have both the d44 and d30 lube lockers - but have only installed the d44 in the back. No problems - works better than the RTV though both are a PITA to install.

I originally used RTV when I got my Rockcrusher dif covers but when the rear had a slow leak I invested in the lube lockers and installed the rear. I used a wire brush and cleaned them up real good - makes a good seal.

[nwquadriders]

My rear lube locker seems to be doing fine... The front however was leaking at the bolts. I did some reading and found out this was a common problem with using the Lube Locker gaskets and the stock differential covers. Evidently the stock covers are flexible enough that they tend to leak with the Lube Lockers at the bolt holes. A fix some folks are doing is putting RTV at the bolt hole locations. I personally think that is unacceptable. So, on the way home I got some RTV and decided to do it the old fashioned way. I took the lube locker gasket out and threw it away. Cleaned things up and applied RTV per the handy write-up on 4x4xplor.com. We'll see how it holds up after driving to work and back today. I half expect the rear one to start leaking, but hopefully it won't.

[nfunlimited]

A friend used rtv on his WJ and his Tj...worked great. I think he used a razor to scrape off any remaining gasket. The guys at my dealerhip use a razor for cleanup when they rebuild engines. Just requires some elbow grease.

I haven't heard of Lube lockers.