New member here, let me know if I'm posting in the wrong spot. Today I put in new axle seals for my Dana 30 up front. Got everything put together and barely got out of the driveway. No resistance when reversing but when going forward there is some good resistance. When I lift the front up and spin the tires there is no problem at all. Anyone have any idea of what could be wrong? Also, all shims and bearing caps etc all went in the same way they came out, everything is torqued to spec and everything was thoroughly cleaned.

 

This sounds like an odd one. That is a pretty straightforward job on an open D30. It sounds like you are pretty confident everything was put back just as it came out. I have to imagine you're talking a lot of resistance for you to notice it. Does it feel like something is binding or does it feel like a sticky brake caliper? How much resistance are we talking?

 

Definitely not a brake caliper. This feels like maybe the gears or axle shafts are binding. It's enough to slow the jeep down and I was going less than 5 mph. I'm sure something would break if I went any faster. Maybe I just don't completely understand how the gears work but it seems strange to me that there seems to be nothing wrong while it's up in the air. Wheels and driveshaft turn just fine but as soon as you put the weight of the jeep on it it's no good.

 

If it was anything in the diff binding you'd most likely be hearing some metal grinding away. As much as it sucks to say, I think I'd be disassembling again to just double check things. At the very least maybe drain the oil in a clean container so you can reuse it and pop that diff cover off to get your eyes on things internally. If you don't already use LubeLockers maybe look at those, cuz scraping rtv for silly things like this sucks.

 

Yes seems like the only option. Looks like I'll be driving the GMC tomorrow haha 👎. Thanks for the help