loose hub leaking oil

[mxjunkie123]

i have a 2001 f350 and the front passenger side hub is loose and it wiggles a lot. also the axle on the passenger side is leaking oil right were the safte goes into the axle body. is the leaking caused by the loose hub. i dont know much about axles just motors. so if anyone can help it would be very helpful. thanks

[simone0414]

I noticed today that mine is doing the same thing on the passeneger side. Pretty sure same spot as yours. Don't know much about it either but I'm guessing there is an oil seal thats going.

Hopefully someone chimes in on how to change it.

[whitelightning150]

sounds to me that you might have one of a few different problems or a combination. the hub problem could be from a bad hub or a wheel bearing that is shot and the leaking fluid sounds like you have a bad inner axle seal. the best thing to do is to start tearing your front end down and see what is going on.

[mxjunkie123]

yea me and my buddy are going to tear the passenger side apart over thanksgiving figured might as well do it to both sides to while im down there dont feel like having to do it down the road in a little bit. and my buddy thinks it might be a wheel seal. is there anyway to tell besides tearing it apart

[whitelightning150]

well one way to test a wheel bearing is to jack up the side and pull out on the bottom of the tire and push in on the top and vice versa. if you get some movement then its probably a bearing. i dont know of a way to test the seal besides pulling it out. when you go to install a new seal you will need to make a driver out of a 1 1/2 inch galvanized nipple and a flange to hammer it on. or you could buy one from ford

[mxjunkie123]

i know the test with the wheel bearing just havent gotten around to it i just keep filling the gear oil back up to the top every two weeks or so just so i dont have to get new axle bearings down the road

[WEWILLE]

If its leaking out the axle tube then you have leaking in axle seals. You need to remove both axle shafts and the carrier to replace those seals. Its a fairly big job. You might as well do front axle u-joints, all 4 ball joints and sounds like you need a wheel bearing too.

[mxjunkie123]

alright so i got some good news i found out that none or very little oil has leaked out of the axle. i finally got a chance to pull off the cover and it leaked some of the oil out so i figured if it did leak some oil it was very little but it seemed like a lot more so i think now it is just the wheel hub or bearing or something of that nature

[whitelightning150]

mine was leaking like that for a while and then all of a sudden it stopped and the diff. is still full so i just didnt worry about it.

[simone0414]

Well I took a quick look today & mine doesn't appear to leaking now either. I haven't checked the oil level in the diff. & I haven't used the 4x4 since I noticed the leak. Which is probably why its not leaking now. I expect once I use the 4x4 it will start leaking again. I need to get under the truck & take a better look cause leaks usually don't fix themselves.