Help needed (Gen 4) - Rear diff oil seaping out of nut?

Hi everyone! Hope you are well.

Few days ago i fitted a rear diff guard from jimnybits. All went well, except for when i took a nut out. Its the one on the right.



When it came out, a little bit of diff oil trickled out, and i thought that was just where a little bit of oil had been trapped behind the nut.

Went to look again today, and i could feel where a bit more had trickled out. No pools of it on driveway, so i assmume its no problem.

So can i ask, is the nut i taken off somehow daming up the diff oil? Whats behind the nut? And if the seal is broken will i be in danger of slooooowly loosing my oil??

Help massively appreciated chaps. Thank you.

When I did mine on Dreadnaught I had to completely remove the two bolts and in so doing dropped my diff oil onto the floor or rather I would have if I hadn't wound it back in and got a container. I used it as an excuse to change the oil. When I re tightened the bolts I did them FT and they have remained dry.

Here's a photo of an (Gen 3) axle casing without the differential in...



When you take the two bottom bolts out of the diff those holes are opened up and the oil leaks out...

Ideally - when fitting the guards - you need to drop the oil out and replace it after fitting the guard... and the bolts need some mastic on them to ensure a good seal (before the new oil is added)...

HTH

Is there no mention of this in the instructions? Can't see anything on the item listing...?

Dave

Oh i see. Not been too impressed with jimnybits guard kits really. Big lack of instructions, non in the diff kits, and somewhat vague on the other guards. Guards are ace though.

Yes, when i took the nuts put, they had a white gummy film on them, so what is this stuff called again? Might have to get some and re-fit the nuts i think. Crumbs!! Hope i aint run my diff dry!!

Hearbeat increASING!

Diff guards are quite unnecessary on a Jimny. The bolts are put in from the factory with a dollop of sealant on the threads. Normally when you take them out you can see it on the tip of the bolt, like a smurf's hat.

Hey Andy - as others have said, that flange of bolts retains a cover plate which is removable. Usually fastened in place with a paper gasket or hylomar sealant of sorts between both mating faces (in the old days they used cork gaskets). Nip them back up tight, the leak shouldn't persist. As others have mentioned it's probably worth doing a job like that in future at the same time as an oil service.

I can't quite make it out from the photos, but what gauge steel is used for that diff guard? only reason I ask is that if its 3mm+ I'd be a little concerned about the grip length of those original fasteners. (I don't know how long they were to begin with) There's potential risk of stripping the threads in the diff if that's the case. Out of interest, do Jimny bits supply longer bolts?

Judging by X8GGY's photo (presumably a gen.3 diff), looks like you've only got about 5mm of threaded casing.