Extended Axle Breathers - 18/09/04

When Rhino Rays changed out my diff ratios they told me that there was quite a bit of mud in the diffs even though I'd changed the oil after wading. Definitely time to extend the axle breathers up out of the mud then!

As ever I did a bit of research on the internet to see what I was getting into and how other people have done it. I found out that a half inch hose is just right to fit on the breather pipe so I went in search of a good tough hose. I found an extra tough professional gardeners hose at Homebase which hopefully will stand up to the rigours of off roading!

The axle breathers have little sprung caps as standard. These are supposed to let air out when the diff warms up but keep water out. Nice idea but they don't work very well! I managed to lever these off with a screwdriver after a bit of a struggle. It's no wonder they don't work, the springs in side are hair thin!

The caps have lugs that lock onto a slot in the breather tube. The slot is perfect for giving the new hose something to grip onto. I used jubilee clips to hold the hose ends in place and made sure they were nice and tight, I don't want things tugging them off!

I decided to route the pipes up to the little void just behind the battery. This is where the engine air pipe goes to, to stay as far out of any water as possible and if I fit a snorkel later then the pipes can follow it up easily from there. The front axle hose was easy to route because the breather is almost directly below this point anyway. I have to admit I did use the brake lines here to hold the hose in place but as I've only used zip ties there's no way that the hose can damage the brake lines. I left a good bit of slack in the last bit of hose to allow for suspension travel.

I've left the hoses in a small coil here to give me some slack for future changes and to help keep water out a bit more. I filled the ends with pieces of foam to keep things out but may put something a bit more professional there later. I've read about people using things like fuel filters to top the pipes off.

I could have routed the rear breather up the back of the truck somewhere but decided to take it all the way to the front to meet the other pipe. That allows me to run it up a snorkel if I fit one and also I can tee in the transfer box and gearbox breathers some time if I decide to. I tried to avoid using brake lines to hold the hose but did at one point where they run well up out of the way near the transfer box. I think it'll be fine, though I have read a few forum posts advising against it.

The finished result looks good and makes me much more confident about wading in deep water without damaging things! It feels good to do another mod myself too!