Oily brake and butchered axle level plug

'Evening All,

I have just bought my first Jimny, a 2001 model. Just love it!! However, the offside rear brake is contaminated with axle oil and I find that someone has well and truly butchered the level/filler plug so it can't be removed. I have even resorted to trying a cold chisel in the indentations left by the butcher, but to no avail.

So, my questions are:

1. Before I resort to extreme methods to remove the plug (like welding on a nut or a bar), has anyone else experienced this and got any helpful removal suggestions?

2. Presumably there is an oil seal behind the hub that can be replaced quite easily?? But I am wondering if there is a breather that might have become blocked and this has caused the oil to be forced past the seal. There is a cylindrical fitting about 15mm diameter on the nearside top of the diff casing - is this a breather - if so, (before I break it!), what is the procedure for servicing it?

All advice gratefully received, so thanks in advance,
Roger

Can you grab the filler plug with some mole grips
Breather servicenot heard of one I'd say 1/8 BSP tap down the hole and a 6 mm pneumatic push fit right angle 1/8 BSP thread other side suitable pipe up under bonnet
Yes oil seal in axle end buy from bigjimny shop

I mig welded an old socket to it then slackened it while it was still hot.

New plugs available in bigjimny shop!

There is a driveshaft seal in the axle tube, just behind the swivel. When the king pin bearings or wheel bearings wear they allow the drive shaft to move up and down, which pushes against the seal and causes it to leak.

Not a hard job to fix, and most of the bits you need are a standard size available from the BigJimny shop or any bearing suppliers.

Many thanks for all the useful replies. I have made the following progress with my rear axle problems which has raised a few more questions:

LEVEL/FILLER PLUG. I have managed to remove it by grinding a slot across it, heating it up and applying a drift and club hammer to the slot. Then oil poured out (of the filler plug), which I collected and measured. It had been overfilled by1 pint. As this is the rear axle, I think it should hold 2.3 pints and mine had 3.3 in it. I reckon this was a big contributor to the oily offside brake as the oil level would have been well above the axle tubes - what do you guys think?

I shall renew the oil seal anyway, and inspect the wheel bearing which doesn't seem worn (but I haven't got it out yet).


Another question is, how did anyone overfill it? Not using the seized level plug, that's for sure. Maybe down the breather using one of those squeezy bottles with a tube that Castrol used to sell axle oil in? And, of course, why overfill it without draining the old oil first?



BREATHER. Very rusty but I twisted the cap off with Mole grips. At first I thought it was empty, but then I found a VERY light spring and a rubber disc, both of which were stuck up at the closed end of the cap. Questions: how should the cap be secured, and what are your views on what I found inside? Is there any info on the internet on these breathers?

I have read about the extended breather idea, and wonder if these use one of these flap valves or are just open to atmosphere?

I have yet to look at the front axle, and rather dread what I may find the bodging butcher might have been up to there!

Thanks in advance,
Roger

How could they over fill it if when refilling you wait for it to dribble out of the filler hole or am I wrong

The rear axle does take a fair amount more than the book claims, I had to buy another bottle of oil when I changed front & back.
If you jack the chassis up then as the suspension drops the filler hole points down.

The correct way to check level and fill is with the car level on all 4 wheels. In this position a pint of oil ran out of the filler hole. So overfilled for sure, but how??

Looking forward to response or my other quandaries.

Cheers guys.

Roger