Front differential leaking @ 7600 miles

[Who are you]

Just rolled 7,629 miles. Crawled under the truck for an oil change and saw oil leaking down one of the crossmembers and found the rear seal on the front diff leaking.

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[Ford Motor Company]

Just rolled 7,629 miles. Crawled under the truck for an oil change and saw oil leaking down one of the crossmembers and found the rear seal on the front diff leaking.

Hello! Can you send over a private message with your VIN and the name/location of your local Ford dealer? I would like to look into your truck's leak on my end.

 

[Je1279]

Just rolled 7,629 miles. Crawled under the truck for an oil change and saw oil leaking down one of the crossmembers and found the rear seal on the front diff leaking.

Should be an easy fix under warranty and if it's leaking, you still have fluid in the differential. Hopefully a fluke issue and not a common problem but still frustrating to have happen on a new vehicle.

 

[Stealthytt]

I was at 11k miles when I was at the dealer for an oil change, they noticed the leak and informed me of it. Said they had to order parts, whatever they ordered arrived 2 days later. I am going in tomorrow to get mine fixed.

 

[Rippy]

I was at 11k miles when I was at the dealer for an oil change, they noticed the leak and informed me of it. Said they had to order parts, whatever they ordered arrived 2 days later. I am going in tomorrow to get mine fixed.

Good luck. You are in for a painstaking future. I have had two front differentials replaced and my truck still remains at the dealership with front differential problems. My F150 has less than 25K on it.

 

[Rippy]

Hello! Can you send over a private message with your VIN and the name/location of your local Ford dealer? I would like to look into your truck's leak on my end.

Hello! Can you send over a private message with your VIN and the name/location of your local Ford dealer? I would like to look into your truck's leak on my end.

Can you check my VIN and see if you can help me?

 

[Rippy]

Hello! Can you send over a private message with your VIN and the name/location of your local Ford dealer? I would like to look into your truck's leak on my end.

Hello! Can you send over a private message with your VIN and the name/location of your local Ford dealer? I would like to look into your truck's leak on my end.

Well this was week number three that the Ford dealer has had my F150. They put 35 miles on it and I have put 100 yards on it to tell them it was still making front differential noise. Big storm in northern MN coming tomorrow and no 4WD F150 in my garage. Maybe a Ford guy out there can help me out. Being an old parts man at heart, I decided to look into what's been going on the with the replacement of the two cracked differential housings by my Ford dealership. I didn't get any paperwork on the first replacement so I can only reference the SO on the failed second replacement. It shows they replaced the B7A 4621 A outer pinion bearing, D0AZ 4630 AA inner pinion bearing and (2) F65Z 4B413 axle bearings. They did not replace the (2) NL3Z 4220 A side bearings. The bearings they replaced are about twenty dollars each. The side bearings are about $120 each. Am I still waiting for my truck because Ford wouldn't pony up $240 after running these bearings in the previous two housings with bad leaks?

 

[sodbuster88]

Just got my ‘21 157” 3.5 WB with max tow back from dealer. My front diff failed as well. 37000 miles. It was there two weeks and feel fortunate it wasn’t longer.

in my case the S*982*K axle asy-front drive along with a long list of all new hardware and circlips were replaced. Here’s the tech’s comment:

“Removed front cover from differential assembly. Minimum fluid drain and full of metal. Removed front differential assembly. Removed carrier assembly found right side bearing to be bad, bear race spun in the housing assembly. Left side carrier bearing bad. Pinion bearings bad. Replaced front differential assembly and one time use parts. Performed test drive and alignment.”

 

[sodbuster88]

Just got my ‘21 157” 3.5 WB with max tow back from dealer. My front diff failed as well. 37000 miles. It was there two weeks and feel fortunate it wasn’t longer.

in my case the S*982*K axle asy-front drive along with a long list of all new hardware and circlips were replaced. Here’s the tech’s comment:

“Removed front cover from differential assembly. Minimum fluid drain and full of metal. Removed front differential assembly. Removed carrier assembly found right side bearing to be bad, bear race spun in the housing assembly. Left side carrier bearing bad. Pinion bearings bad. Replaced front differential assembly and one time use parts. Performed test drive and alignment.”

Btw…I had no evidence of a leak or bad seal. Outside of housing was dry as a bone. So not sure how it was low or minimal oil. Talked to another fellow who had a similar failure…inside his front diff housing it was dry as a bone. No oil. Just can’t tell if there was a leak or not.

 

[Rippy]

I finally got my F150 back after 3 weeks . After installing the third front differential housing, it immediately failed again. They put bearings and gears in this time, less than 25,000 miles on the 21 F150. I figured before it failed again, I would trade for a low mileage 2018 Toyota Tundra SR5 TRD package. My F150 can go leak gear oil on someone else's garage floor. Purchased a 150,000 (unlimited years) bumper to bumper no deductible warranty. I know I sacrificed ride, fuel economy, and technology but I'm really looking for reliability. The best thing is I can finally throw out the greasy piece of cardboard I've had to park over for most of the time I have owned the F150!

 

[Ford Motor Company]

Can you check my VIN and see if you can help me?

Hi there, I'd be happy to look into your F-150 concerns on my end. Will you send us a message with your VIN and dealership info? I can look into things on my end.

 

[Gros Ventre]

I changed my front differential gear lube early on (as I did with all fluids - I do this as a means of flushing out manufacturing debris and stuff). The gear lube that came out of mine was an odd opaque gray. Didn't know whether that was bad or good... but have never seen oil or gear lube looking like that. There was no metallic shards or other indication of excessive wear, but that color just bothered me. Replaced with Amsoil Gear lube and now have many good miles on my truck.

 

[Henfield]

Be good to see images of the leak. Any modifications to your vehicle?

 

[Skier167]

looked under my truck today and saw the skid plate was covered in oil. I pulled the skid plate and looks like my front diff is leaking as well. 21’ job 1 platinum max tow. Calling the dealer tomorrow to get it in. 22k miles

 

[fordtruckman2003]

Interesting. Job 1 2021 here that had a pinion seal leak too.

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