Changing Leaky Axle Seal

[pastortom1]

Guys, what am I up against attempting to change one of my rear axle seals (8-3/4") in my driveway?

I've never done one.......done my share of brakes, and have changed a couple of axles......but have never changed a seal........do they need to be pressed in?..........hammered out?..........nightmare?..........piece of cake?

Help me out here before I go taking it apart...........................

 

[66dartman]

Kind of a nightmare, just getting a strong enough press to do it. If you change to the "green" bearings, which are the sealed, ball type bearing, it should eliminate the need to change seals. The last seal I changed, I had to cut the press on retainer off before I could push the bearing off. If you know of someone who has a good strong press, they may be able to push the bearing/retainer off in one shot.

 

[briankaplan]

Isn't the seal inside the housing. After you pull out the
axle? They were on mine. The outside one is just a dust seal.
I went and put green bearings in mine. But also changed the
seals in the tubes.

 

[340mopar]

briankaplan you are right that the seals are inside the tube. You should still run the seals even if you use "green bearings" being the seals on the bearings is really there to keep the grease in the bearing not keep oil out. The gear oil if it got into the bearing could wash out the grease.

Chuck

 

[OldVart]

Tom, it's not that big of a deal actually. You need to remove the nuts that hold the axles in place via the access hole in the axle end, then pull the axle out. Just before you remove the axle completely, pull it at a sharp angle so the end of the axle catches the seal and you can remove the seal with the end of the axle. Does that make sense? You use the inside end of the axle as a pry bar to remove the seal. To install the new ones, get a piece of black plastic water/sewer pipe the same size as the axle ID and use it to gently hammer the seals in place inside the axle tube. Hope this helps.

 

[66dartgt]

There are two seals on each axle and inner and an outer. The inners are shot if you are getting gear oil leakage, replace as directed above ... The outers require pressing off the bearing and race and then replacing them with new parts, might as well replace the outer bearing at that time. Dont forget to polish the surface of the shaft with 600 emery to remove nicks etc before reassembly !