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Originally posted by Raul Camacho

Having recently serviced the front differential in the truck, I noticed some evidence of condensation and water in the fluid due to a leaking axle seal and submerging the differential breather.  After spending a few days with the front differential apart, I decided to go ahead and put the front breather out of harm's way for my next submarine adventure.

The stock differential breather runs from the front axle CAD housing to the inner frame rail.  The end of the breather hose is clipped to the frame rail and the hose terminates in a plastic vent valve.  All that is required for some added water fording protection is a longer section of 3/8" fuel hose (5-7' should be sufficient) and re-using the stock clip and vent.  So here it is...

Here's where the breather attaches to the front axle housing.  Note, the stock hose clamp is junk, so I've replaced it with a standard 3/8" screw-type clamp.

I've left some extra hose length to allow for greater than stock suspension droop.  It looks pretty vulnerable, so I'll zip tie it to the axle before the next outing.

The stock hose to frame clip is reused.

The hose terminates inside the engine compartment underneath the cowl ledge.  It's shielded from the rain, but still vulnerable to a large water splash in the compartment (still an improvement).  Not shown well is the stock plastic vent cap on the hose end.  Possible improvements would be to route the hose to the engine air cleaner inlet or terminate the hose into a fuel filter or nice K&N unit.

This page was edited on: May 3, 2004