I went out riding today and one of the times we stopped I noticed a little grease on the right side of the carrier housing around the seal. It's not slung all over everything or even outside of right around the seal. It was in the upper 80's today and it was about 40 miles into the trip before my buddy noticed it. The trails we rode were a little more open with higher birms in the turns so we could keep our speed up a bit more than usual. Is this something I need to be concerned with or just pump some more grease into the carrier and go from there? I haven't added any grease in atleast 6 months so could it be low and getting hot??

 

By "grease" do you mean 80w/90 gear oil? then yes it should be changed at least once a year, and checked on a regular basis depending amount of miles driven.
Check to make sure your rear brakes are not dragging causing the diff to over heat.
Low oil condition can make the rear diff rise in temp, as well as old worn out oil.
The better gear oils have seal conditioner in it to help keep the seals soft longer.

 

nope no gear oil definately grease... it's got a straight rear axle. The brakes are working great and not dragging.

 

If you are greasing it regularly then grease will come out of the side seals when the housing is full. Every time you grease it you are pushing any water out and some grease will come out.

 

I guess I need to just pump some more grease into it then, because I never ride in water other than when I can't go around it on the trail and it's never been deep enough to come close to the carrier to get in unless it splashes up there a little. I'll try more grease and go from there. The seals are pretty cheap, but the process of changing them sounds like a nightmare from stories i've heard about getting the axle nuts off...