Rear end leak

[dano]

Howdy!

'97 GTS with slight drip from rear. Dealership says it needs new seal but requires takinging rear end apart...at $500. This sounds wrong. Help!!

 

[Copernicus]

I looked at the thread title and thought to myself, "this sounds like a personal problem."

I'm assuming you are talking about the rear differential leaking? If so, at $500, that is an expensive job. Admittedly, I have never replaced the rear differential gasket in a Viper specifically, but this seems to me to be a pretty straight forward operation. If you have any mechanical know how, you should be able to complete this in short order and certainly take on this job if that was the estimate presented to you.

 

[Randy Blaylock]

If the leak is from the pinion yoke, that's not out of line. There are people that could potentially band-aid fix it by just noting where the pinion gear shaft nut is, and trying to tighten it to the same position, and assume that the crush or preload is correct.

In order to be sure that the backlash and preload of the ring and pinion is correct, the disassembly and assembly procedure is not too complicated, just time consuming to verify.

If you have ever considered changing gears, now is the time to do it since part of the labor will already be covered.

 

[dano]

I wish it were a personal problem...I could easily fix that. I have talked with two other dealerships in the Denver area (someone sent me Glen at SW Dodge who I had already talked to...thanks).

The leak is at the rear cover. The gears were replaced by the previous owner and the silicone seal evidently wasn't quite snug enough. All dealers said that the rear diff had to be unbolted and dropped to replace the seal. Looks like 4+- hours for the work....ouch...

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

$500 sounds about right if they know what they are doing.

Or you could go to a shadetree mechanic and get it done for $150.

Or you could pick up a used diff for about $500 and do it yourself and then you'd have a spare to work on at your convenience.

 

[Copernicus]

It is not nearly as daunting of a task as it sounds. In fact, if you know any of the Denver VCA members, you might offer a case of beer and ask someone to help you change it out. If you were closer, I would certainly give you a hand.

 

[dano]

Unfortunately, I am new to the car and forum and don't have any contacts in Denver area.

 

[Qualitywires.com]

Dano,

Just a heads up...Mopar makes a silicone sealant for the diff. It's synthetic friendly. That maybe the cause of the leak, they didn't use the right sealant.

Also, $500 sounds like it might be a fair price if that includes all fluids and so on. If you can get under the car and have the right tools..it's easy but maube a bit time consuming. I took a picture for you and illustrated what needs to be done. Might want to put a drain plu on your diff since you will have it out. Hope this helps.

You must be registered for see images

 

[GTSnake]

ab, you forgot the two bolts on the top of the cover and another two bolts inside the "arm" base. I believe there's 10 bolts holding the cover on. I just tried taking the rear cover off two weeks ago and found it cannot be done without dropping the entire rear end. Therefore you would need to undo the exhaust, unbolt the drive shaft, half shafts and the bolts through the arms. You also may have to unbolt the brake line bolt that holds it to the frame. I tried taking the cover off without removing the exhaust and shafts and it's impossible. You cannot access the two top bolts or the two bolts within the arms without removing the whole assembly. You can't even SEE the two top bolts while it's in the car. I spend 3 hours lying in my garage trying to figure it out!

 

[FE 065]

You'll need to get new u-joint straps and strap bolts from the dealer to re-connect the half shafts to the axle stubs when you're putting it back together too. As I recall they're not to be re-used.

The bolts come with thread lock on them, if you cleaned all the old thread lock off of your old ones and put some fresh on, you'd probably be okay. The torque isn't that high on those bolts-I wouldn't think they'd be stretched/unreliable.


--------------------------------
1999 GTS / 11.80@120

 

[Qualitywires.com]

ab, you forgot the two bolts on the top of the cover and another two bolts inside the "arm" base. I believe there's 10 bolts holding the cover on. I just tried taking the rear cover off two weeks ago and found it cannot be done without dropping the entire rear end. Therefore you would need to undo the exhaust, unbolt the drive shaft, half shafts and the bolts through the arms. You also may have to unbolt the brake line bolt that holds it to the frame. I tried taking the cover off without removing the exhaust and shafts and it's impossible. You cannot access the two top bolts or the two bolts within the arms without removing the whole assembly. You can't even SEE the two top bolts while it's in the car. I spend 3 hours lying in my garage trying to figure it out!

I knew there were going to be bolts I missed...since I never took one off...but I was just showing the picture to help illustrate that the rear end would need to come out.