Front differential breather-should it go to something?

[bcmbcmbcm]

I was under my rig this weekend and noticed the front differential breather wasn't attached to anything. Can dirt just get in there?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Teal68]

Mud or water is the typical culprit if go thru either deep enough. It should have section of hose connected to it. From the factory the his had some slack for movement and the the other end is inserted into a opening in the frame. I like to reroute mine even higher. For the front I place it high on the inner fender and for the rear I put it up high on the gas filler tube.

 

[surfer-b]

I attach it to the frame, leave plenty of slack for axle drop, and add one of these, never had any probs

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/r...sg7OmrdacdhL8VEmmzE5Vq1RemhuwnomocaAmQW8P8HAQ

 

[xcntrk]

I ran both my axle and transmission (MT) vents up to a little cone filter high in my engine bay. It's above my motor intake so if I'm submerging that filter to water then I have bigger problems!

 

[AxlesUp]

what they said about running the hose as high as possible. i like to put a little loop in the end of mine so nothing can pour down into it.

 

[dave67fd]

If you don't have any plans to wheel this rig or anticipate driving thru high water, just attach a new piece of hose and pass it through on the left side of the frame as others mentioned (near the brake hose that attaches to the frame) There's a hole that had a clamp that held it in place. Before doing so, remove the vent breather and clean and blow it out well. If too rusted buy a new one from the vendors their cheap.

 

[Broncobowsher]

A breather does just that, breathes. Attached to the axle is good. Other end is just open so it can breath. Keeps the axle from having positive or negative pressure inside. Makes up for thermal expansion.

From the factory no filter is used. And really not needed either. There is extrememly little air flow through the breather. The hose is long enough that dust just sticks to the inside wall and stays there forever. The open end is simply pointed down so stuff doesn't fall into the hose.

In the realm of making things better, lots of people add hose length to raise the breather. Higher location generally makes it harder to dunk the breather underwater. Added length also adds more filtering as there is more hose to collect dust. And if you really want to spend as much as possible you can add little K&N filters, or the cheap way out of just putting a fuel filter on.

There are millions of cars and trucks running around that have no breather hose at all. Just a vent on the axle itself. Either by design, or the hose rotted off. This works just fine by all accounts. Probably half the old junk you find in a junkyard will be this way, and usually with a perfectly good axle in it as well.

 

[DirtDonk]

Also change the oil now and then. Because it's cheap and I like working on things, I used to do mine every 20k miles or so. It'll probably be more like every few years once I start driving it again, as I doubt I'll be putting daily-driver miles on it anymore.

Just don't fall into the pit of thinking gear boxes are "lubed for life" like grandpa used to.

Paul

 

[Teal68]

Paul,
We all know lubed for life is no good....because eventually the leaks exhaust that option.
Tyler

 

[DirtDonk]

Ain't that the truth!

Paul

 

[JSBX]

I ran some hose from the vent fitting into the engine compartment. I cut some tubing about 3" long that would fit in the hose. I think it was some brake line I had laying around. I drilled several small holes in the tubing and mashed one end flat. inserted the other end into the hose and installed hose clamp. Zip tied it up by the master cylinder. Did same for the rear just ran it up under the bed rail. Seems to work good. Make sure you pull the vent fitting and clean it out before hand. They have a small hole and get plugged up easily.

 

[englewoodcowboy]

Here is where it went from the factory.

 

[377]

My venting is probably overkill but I made a 4x6 in box and threaded three nipples on the bottom. A nipple for the two axles and one for my transfer case vents. I topped it off with a small breather/filter. It works well and it's mounted basically next to my master cylinder, so it is pretty much high and dry.