I changed the passenger side half shaft/ cv boot on my 96 Runner with 200k on it. The boot on the pass side had torn, hence the replacement. When I popped out the half shaft, a bit of diff fluid came out, so i topped it off. The front of the truck was raised, so maybe I overfilled it a little.

The next day i drove the truck on a 300 mile trip. I noticed fluid on the driver front wheel well, so took a look and there is grease or oil coming from the half shaft (hard to tell if the diff fluid or the cv boot grease - it's kind of thick, but not really thick). This is on the opposite side of the half shaft i just replaced.

The strange thing is, the grease/oil is not coming from a tear in the boot, it's coming from the gap in the half shaft between the boot and the shaft that goes into the diff. It's a gap in the half shaft, where it goes from round to kind of oval shaped- not the gap where the half shaft meets the diff.

Clear as mud?

What I'm wondering is, is it likely/possible that I overfilled the diff and the overflow is getting into the half shaft and getting spun out? If not, then I guess I gotta change the drivers side half shaft next.

Thanks for any ideas!

 

Seems like by coincidence your other CV boot is leaking! The CV grease is closed off from any diff grease, so if its coming from the boot, then its CV grease.

This is pretty common actually. Usually you can just find a way to tighten that clamp down while still on the truck. Or, take off the stock clamp and use a traditional style hose clamp.

Also, if your worried about over filling the diff grease... The fill plug where you put the grease would be overflowing.... so just take the plug off and see if some comes out. I can't really see having a little too much causing any problems.