2006 F250 Super Duty Front Axle Seals Gone
 

Need help!
This is a V10 gasser but thought someone here might be more familiar with these front ends than I am.

I decided to change the oil in my girlfriends '06 Ford Super Duty today and here is what I found. Front left axle at the knuckle;
Attachment 54235 Attachment 54236

Anything i should look for that would have caused that seal to wear out like that? Both sides are the same way!!! Looking at all the grime on those sealed u-joints makes me think those might be the cause. I checked the fluid in the diff level and it was full and looked clear. It was getting dark and cold so I will inspect closer tomorrow.
When I change the seals is there anything I should do like ball joints, wheel bearings or etc...

Her truck is an '06 F250 superduty extended cab, 6.8L V-10, automatic, electronic 4wd w/lock out hubs, 2inch level kit, 35x12.5 tires, 70,000 miles

Any ideas, tips, suggestions, advice is appreciated. :c:

and yes her next truck will be a diesel. :w2:

What you are looking at are the dust seals for the front axle housing. The grease seals are deep inside the housing, close to the differential. If you look on the back side of the hub, you will probably see a ring that is loose there also. That is part of the dust seal for the hub unit.

This is very common for the superduties and I have been running mine for quite some time since it was first noticed although my axle dust seal has not come out completely like yours. Some have been sucessful in cleaning the seal up and pushing it back in by hand. You may want to try that along with applying some loctite, a very lignt coat of RTV or seal retainer to the outside surface of the dust seal. Most likely it will just pop out again. Since it is only a dust seal, not a grease seal, most choose to ignore them since it is so common.

I will not change mine until it is due for a new unitized hub or it needs ball joints as they will separate again within 30K after they are replaced anyway.

Thanks guzzle,
I think I will let it go for now also. Probably lift the front today and check everything is still good and just try not to worry about that dust seal.

At the diamond mine up north I was working at ALL of the trucks had that, and we NEVER fixed them.

I wouldn't go through any deep water/mud with those seals like that though, because the tubes will fill up with junk and it will lay in there and be ignorant to clean out later on :)

Thanks for the advice :U: