Axles Seal?

NickTF

NickTF

Single turbo turd.
Joined
Jun 4, 2007
Messages
5,887
My front axle on the drive side appears to have a bad seal. Gear oil is left in a puddle and you can see it running down the joint at the end of the axle. In any event could someone give me a quick description of what will need to be removed to service it? How is the short driver side axle retained in the front d60 of my truck? Is it some kind of c-clip retaining system in the front diff or are they bolt in? Any suggestions are appreciated.
 
remove tires both sides

remove brake caliper and bracket etc both sides

remove diff cover and drain

remove large axle nut

take 4 bolts out of back of unit bearing/hub and proceed to cuss, drink beer, beat with BFH and chisel, and slide hammer until bearing comes apart or comes out in one piece for both sides.

slide out axles on both sides, then remove CAD plate and slide the passnger inner axle shaft out part way also

remove carrier bearing caps and remove carrier from the diff

R&R driver side inner axle seal, be sure to get the proper tools for the job (PM me if you would like to borrow mine)

then put it all back together, using a ton of never seize on anything that was hard to take apart.

if you are like me, it will take just about all day with all the beer drinking and cussing going on
 
Remove hub, 1 3/4 hub nut and 12 point 14mm from back side, then you can pull the axle shaft out.

The seal is a press in from the outside. Not hard, just a pain.
 
Damn, sounds like a serious job. TJ, I may take you up on that offer but not just yet. I plan to devote most of my effort at the moment to the s468 swap. Gear oil is cheap so until I get to the leak popping off the front diff cover plug is easy enough. I'm almost thinking on waiting to do this until i'm ready to do 3.54 gears (or whatever I choose) as it sounds like enough things have to come apart to do it! decisions decisions.......
 
displacedtexan said:
Why am I thinking you can do seals without removing the carrier...
Click to expand...

Passenger side yes...it goes in from the CAD access plate. drivers side gets pulled in from inside the diff, not from the outside.

i did them both last winter when i replaced all 4 ball joints.
 
I used a air chisel witha flat driver style head to remove the unit bearing.. Came off in less than 3 seconds..
 
NickTF said:
Damn, sounds like a serious job. TJ, I may take you up on that offer but not just yet. I plan to devote most of my effort at the moment to the s468 swap. Gear oil is cheap so until I get to the leak popping off the front diff cover plug is easy enough. I'm almost thinking on waiting to do this until i'm ready to do 3.54 gears (or whatever I choose) as it sounds like enough things have to come apart to do it! decisions decisions.......
Click to expand...

Hey Nick, not sure if I asked this already or not, but do you have a D70 or 80 rear? if 80 I have a set 3.54's I'd trade ya for your 4.10s :D
 
Ok, at least I'm not totally crazy.

A little PB Blaster (ok, a lotY and a 3/4 wratchet got my axle nuts off pretty easy.
 
wpeschel said:
I used a air chisel witha flat driver style head to remove the unit bearing.. Came off in less than 3 seconds..
Click to expand...

my 02 had 90k miles on it when we took them out, a large slide hammer, air chisel, hand chisels, BIG hammers, and lots of penetrating oil and still took about 45 minutes per side to remove the bearings.

some get lucky, some dont. here in maryland they use a ton of salt on the roads when it snows...that certainly doesnt help.
 
getblown5.9 said:
my 02 had 90k miles on it when we took them out, a large slide hammer, air chisel, hand chisels, BIG hammers, and lots of penetrating oil and still took about 45 minutes per side to remove the bearings.

some get lucky, some dont. here in maryland they use a ton of salt on the roads when it snows...that certainly doesnt help.
Click to expand...

Mine were tough the first time, now when I rotate my tires I pop the hub assembly loose and slather some anti seize on it just incase... So basically once a year, lol. If you have the wheels off already, its only another 20 minutes per side... cheap insurance IMO
 
They can be a mother, also keeping a bolt partialy threader into the bearing and puting a socket on the end and using a extension or 2x4 in between that and the frame works too, just start up the truck and use the power stearing to press them out some.
 
If you are lucky, it can be as described above. If you are unlucky as I was (lots of salt on the roads in Nebraska as well), the job was spread over a few days and I ended up with new unit bearings and balljoints...

I tried everything listed above, soaked in penetrating oil for a day before I started as well... Tried the power steering tricks, air chisel, put a puller on the bearing flange pushing against the axle with the axle shaft u-joint blocked against the axle tube. Even tried many of these at the same time.

Eventually, it involved a portable bandsaw and getting new balljoints (which needed replaced anyway). The entire knuckle assembly then went into a large press to get the unit bearing out. I've got a thread on here somewhere with pics...

I couldn't possibly post enough of these... :bang :bang :bang :bang :bang :bang

When you put it back together, coat everything with never-seize...
 
GOT-Torque said:
If you are lucky, it can be as described above. If you are unlucky as I was (lots of salt on the roads in Nebraska as well), the job was spread over a few days and I ended up with new unit bearings and balljoints...

I tried everything listed above, soaked in penetrating oil for a day before I started as well... Tried the power steering tricks, air chisel, put a puller on the bearing flange pushing against the axle with the axle shaft u-joint blocked against the axle tube. Even tried many of these at the same time.

Eventually, it involved a portable bandsaw and getting new balljoints (which needed replaced anyway). The entire knuckle assembly then went into a large press to get the unit bearing out. I've got a thread on here somewhere with pics...

I couldn't possibly post enough of these... :bang :bang :bang :bang :bang :bang

When you put it back together, coat everything with never-seize...
Click to expand...

Yeah it still wasent easy but did help some I think along with a big Fin hammer, porta power jaw.
 
My truck came from Ma and has quite a bit of rust in certain areas, I may just live with a leaking seal for as long as I can until I can swap over to a different axle or something along those lines. Thanks for all the heads up guys.
 
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