Good afternoon:

I am chasing a rear end leak on a 1970 B-body. Replaced the rear-end cover gasket, which did not stop the leak.

Upon looking closer, after cleaning all oil off the center section and letting it leak for a few days, I see the oil is coming out of a small hole on a rosette weld. The small hole appears to be part of the weld, as all the other rosettes have a similar hole in them (approximately 1/8 diameter).

Anyone see this before? What is the fix for this?

As always, thank you in advance.

Dan

I have seen it before. The Dana 60 in my Charger and a Dana 44 in a Jeep.

Had the Jeep Dana out for refurbishment, so I cleaned everything thoroughly and welded the leaking rosette and another minor area of leakage at the tube/casting interface. Similar years back on the Dana 60.

If you get it clean enough, you could simply use JB Weld. The lubricant isn't under pressure in the housing, except maybe a little windage.

Had the same issue with a Dana 60 I had built for my Challenger

At first I thought it was the diff cover leaking but after checking closely it was leaking from the plug welds where they installed the new axle tubes and running down and dripping off the diff cover.

After some research on fixes and not wanting to pull the rear end back out I mixed up some JB Weld and filled in and covered all the plug welds.
I took my time and made sure to get the JB weld completely inside the plug weld and made it look clean and smooth.

I waited a couple days and painted the areas.

The fix turned out real nice and hasn't leaked since.

I had the same problem on the 1st race car I built with a Dana 60. I saw the problem, but sold the car before I fixed it. That was in 1987, it was an OEM stock width Dana 60 that I moved the spring perches inboard and otherwise stock with a PowerLock carrier built for a 3.54 gear using a Mr Gasket ring gear spacer with 4.88 truck gears, stock (unknown spline count)axles, stock drum brakes and 13x31x15 M/T ET Drag tires. It wept a little gear oil and I wiped it clean once in awhile, no big deal. I beat the "stuff" out of it and it never let me down.

Now I weld the tubes to the cast steel housing with 7018 rod, buy 35 spline Dutchman axles with Ford "Torino" bearings, Dr. Diff Spool, use Ford Racing drum brakes and narrow the whole thing with a jig. It should be better and stronger than before.

BTW when I sold the car ('68 Coronet 500) in 1987, I was able to get $2,400.00 for it without the lettering
I have never been able to find it again, though I have tried.

Thanks everyone

Sounds like JB Weld and see if it holds.

Is there anything that cannot be fixed with JB Weld or Duct tape?

Dan

Clean it real good and then heat it up some - be careful not to generate phosgene gas. Then use some loctite porosity sealer - although other loctite products will work as well. As it cools it will suck it in some.

http://www.henkelna.com/product-search-1554.htm?nodeid=8797930258433

You could use a propane torch but you shouldn't use carb or brake cleaner if you use an open flame.

It doesn't need to be too hot so I would use a good heat gun in that application. If that wasn't enough then the propane torch would be my next step. I would shoot for about 250 degrees F.

I would clean and grind the spot and hit it with the mig welder.

Thanks everyone:

I will try the JB Weld first and see how it goes. If that does not work then will almost certainly weld it up.

Thanks again

Dan

Okay, put on two coats of JB Weld on the rosette weld that was leaking.


Drained differential, then cleaned weld and surrounding area till it was immaculate. Let the first coat cure before putting on the second, sanded then painted the repair. Looks good. If you did not look directly at it for a second or two you would never notice.

Owner drove till warm then treated it somewhat roughly (four speed) and as of today is not leaking.

I know it is only one test drive but I wanted to be sure and check back to let everyone know, at least initially, the repair was a success.

Thanks again everyone and I will try to remember to check back at the end of the summer after more miles have been put on the car.

Dan