Rear axle noise and gear oil seep

[PipeMajor]

I've got a circa 2008 36V TXT PDS. The cart came from a golf course, but it was in good condition when I bought it. Ever since I have owned it, it has had a sort of light clunk when driving that is correlative to the tire rotation speed. I hadn't paid too much attention since it is quite minor and thought maybe it was in the brake system. It seems to be located on the driver side rear wheel. I'm adding a lift kit, so I took the drum off and rotated the axle using a wrench and I can feel that the clunk is in the axle somewhere. Any suggestions on where to go from here? I figured I would replace the outside axle shaft bearing, and hope that was the problem. Is there a trouble shooting guide or tear down procedure for the rear differential/axle assembly that I could use?

Additionally the rear diff and axle has a gear oil leak that appears to start where the motor bolts to the housing. I plan on de-greasing everything thoroughly and then monitoring where the leak originates from to find the source. I'm assuming that a slight gear oil leak/seep is not normal?

[cgtech]

The clunk could be anything from worn wheel bearing, to worn input shaft, to worn gears. The leak is likely from the input shaft, a repair kit from yamaha (yes it fits your ezgo's dana axle too) comes with a new bearing, new seal, and a slinger to help keep oil away from where its not needed (yamaha part number "99999-JU200"). When doing input shaft seal would be a great time to pull the cover, drain the oil, inspect, and reseal. Then add fresh oil through input shaft hole while making repair.

[TerryH]

Agree with Cgtech. In addition, need to check the hubs. They are notorious issues on these Dana rear ends.

I did some pics and procedures on disassembly and reassembly of these rear ends in this thread beginning on page 3....

Rear end help thread..