My brother has a 97 Explorer 4x4 and the front left is leaking fluid. We checked the hub, swapped tires/wheels and did about everything else we can think of, the only thing we can think of is the axle must be bent or something. Anyone have problems like this before? Thanks.

 

Your hub seals are bad. Replace them.

And how did you figure that changing the tires could help?

 

Forgot to add.

There is a seal in the hub and one in the strut. It will leak if either seal is bad.

 

We already replaced the seals and it worked for awhile then started leaking again. This is how we thought it might be the axle.

 

Does anyone else have any ideas on this? Is it the axle?

 

I had a 1997 Explorer until a few months ago. Sold it with about 7000 miles on odometer. I had to replace the two seals on the left hand side to stop fluid leaks. I noticed that there was a slight amount of wear where the seal contacted the axle. That might be your problem. New seals fixed my problem. You have to be careful replacing the seals so as not to dent or distort them.

 

i looked at the explorer last night and the front right (the problem wheel) actually has a wobble in it also. I'm sure this has something to do with the leak. Now what do we do? Thanks for the help.

 

How hard is it to replace the shaft/axle?

 

chevk to see how tight the bearings are if they are loose tighten them up as described in the manual replacing the axle isnt too bad driving the pins out of the innerend of the shaft is the hardest

 

BigChevy, Just curious as to what pipe your running on your 95 Explorer? Thanks