I wouldn't have done it to the point where it's over the hood. As 3 Hummers stated, full C-service is required.
Last time I played in the water, I had a geared hub seize up, turns out it had a military 2 piece style seal that had 1 piece missing, so basically the hub was being lubricated by mud :v.
Fortunately Ihad a few spares, waiting to rebuild it.