RLT

Thanks for the ultra quick reply
Yeah its 4 years since they were replaced with Crown Brand ones when the front pinion bearings were being replaced presumably due to the front shaft UJ being seized one way for god knows how long, something I'm going to have to check periodically since I got a new Spicer one tack welded in.
Its the short shaft side that is weeping very slightly, other side dry as a bone.
When parked over night JK leans slightly unevenly to that side, also, which probably doesn't help.
Still plenty oil in diff.
Wondering if it could have been the colder temps -5 C (23F) we had a few weeks back, starting it off by hardening the seal, who knows !
You would think the newer design would have been more robust, it looks it plus more expensive.

Sixty4x4

One of the big items that not a lot of people realise is that your axle housing must be squeaky clean when re-installing. I pulled my front axles to do the u-joints and literally built a scraper out of a large panel washer mounted on 1/4" threaded rod and scraped for an hour or so. Then I put a 1" pipe section taped to a wet/dry vacuum and got all the dust out. Lastly I used the orginal seals and they are still ok but there is a small UHMW plastic disc that is larger than axle OD that fits on the spline to hold the axle off the floor of the diff tube to prevent dirt from getting on the end of the spline when pushing it back in. Not having this would transfer the dirt to the seal and chew it out in short order. The disc simply stays outside the seal until the axle is removed again.

RLT

Yeah I ordered 2 of those plastic 'guide' discs Part No. K68004090AA
Now just wondering about replacing other stuff whilst the shafts are out.
UJ's got about 45,000 on them but still look OK
Ball joints the same and appear OK
Wheel bearings only 35,000 (Replaced at 74,000)
Do I do the lot again or just the seals plus UJ's & Ball Joints while the shafts are out ?

resharp001

I'd just do the seals.....but I've taken my junk apart so many times I think I could work on a pit crew for one of these things. I can have wheels/brakes and unit bearings/axle shafts out as an assembly in no time if doing BJs. I'd think your front axle shaft u-joints should have lot more life and if the BJs are good then no reason to replace yet just for funnzies.

I've bought one of those guides in the past....and drove all the way across town to pick up the dumb thing too. I was mad about the money and time I wasted on a piece of plastic. If you're really careful about what you're doing then fine without them IMO. Passenger side definitely takes a bit more patience with its length. Definitely see how some folks just jam things in there though. Def clean those tubes out while it's all apart like Sixty said.

RLT

Might purchase new UJ's just in case as I guess you can get a better inspection of the condition with the shafts out.
If OK will keep them handy for the future as they wont get any cheaper that's for sure

Many thanks all for your input.

RLT

Just an update
Eventually got the new 2 part seal replaced 2 weeks ago and so far no more weeping of oil.
Glad I took a couple of U-Joints as there was some seizing on each side after getting the stub axels out, not fully articulating with rusted pin rollers. So new ones hammered in.
I used the OEM Mopar ones which were bloody expensive.
Purchased a couple of Spicer equivalents 5-760X (would that be correct ?) for a 1/4 of the price, ready for the next time, plus another set of front seals.
Load of crud & rust removed from the longer section of axel not so much from the short side probably due to the leak keeping it oiled.