Uh, oh!

[hemihead2]

My rear end has been dripping more and more...I bought a pinion seal thinking that was the issue- it's not! I dropped off the truck for service and the tech got to picking the rust around the base of the snout and exposed a weep hole! Any idea what I can use to fix it? Metal epoxy, JB weld, real weld? A new housing is not on the menu unless an absolute last resort..thank you all.

[RustyPW]

Got pic's?

[Colibri]

Without seeing pics hard to say, but generally if I were to attempt a repair of cast steel or iron I’d use flame spray transfer to fill in whatever void there was. Not something I’d do on an assembled rear end though. Pics for more detailed response. Some guys have good luck with mig tig or stick on cast steel though. Whatever process I’d hit it with a needle scaler or something similar afterwards. Peening it to keep it from cracking

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qc9a3MfxsQA

[Pit Slave]

If it's in a non-critical location, it can be brazed in with an oxi-acetylene torch using a bronze rod. This will fill in the defect with minimal heat. It's still hot, so you want make sure it's clean from all oil and as clean as possible in the the weld area. I've done repairs like this in the past and it holds up to the stress just fine. It does take time to gradually heat up as well as have a controlled cool down (ie. cover with a welding blanket once done and get back to it the next day).

Another very quick and inexpensive option is to thoroughly clean the area and JB-weld it with the cast version they offer.

Again, hard to make a clear recommendation without seeing a pic of the issue at hand.

Sent from my rotary phone using Tapatalk

[RustyPW]

What ever you decide to do. That area HAS to be CLEAN! So as you apply heat to it. Oil will come out of the metal for a while. And you can't braze or weld until the oil is gone. Use a burr bit to clean the area down to shiny metal.

[trk4sale]

Is it a casting defect or rusting through? Patching a casting defect would be OK, but if it's rust damage it seems that there might be more damage than is visible. Maybe a good idea to invest some time removing rust and really checking out the entire diff.

[Bill2014]

If you are interested in the cheapest solution:
I've use a metal epoxy (resin + hardner) in the past with great success - it is cheap and fast and avoids the risk of any heat damage. You need to get the "hole" clean and oil free first - perhaps use a dremel tool to get the area clean and apply the epoxy to bare metal...

Good luck

[coder]

Not sure how large the diameter of the hole or where it is, could it be drilled and tapped out and put a small bolt with teflon tape on the threads in the hole? This would be a strong, reliable fix.

[cb1987]

hard to say without seeing it but it sounds like it may be a perfect job for epoxy.