Loosen wheel lugs with the wheel still on the ground. Jack rear up and set on stands. Chock wheels and place shifter in neutral. Remove fill plug before proceeding.


Remove diff cover.

Spin axle assembly until the bolt for the cross pin is visible. With either the parking brake on or someone holding the brakes, break it loose with a 5/16, 6 point socket or wrench. Make sure you got a firm grip on it and if want to, heat it a little beforehand. It's not hard to round them off. Once you got it broke loose, take a break from it and remove the caliper and rotor from the side you're working on. Go ahead and remove the cross pin bolt and very carefully and slowly, spin the carrier to where you can remove the cross pin.

Once the cross pin is removed, push the axle in a little and using a magnet, pull the c-clip out. Axle can now slide out. If you're just replacing the seal, use a seal puller to remove the old seal and using a proper sized socket, tap the new seal in nice and even.

Add a little bit of grease to the seal lip. Slide axle in, install c-clip, slide axle out so c-clip seats, install cross pin, add a dap of blue loc-tite to cross pin bolt, tighten to proper torque value. Clean out housing, install cover, refill with lube, install caliper/rotor/wheel and you're all set.

If you decide to replace the bearing at the same time (I would, they're cheap), leave the seal in place and using a slide hammer, pull the seal and bearing out as a single unit. Install bearing with proper socket. You'll know when it's fully seated as the sound will change. Add a dap of grease to the rollers and then install seal with proper socket. Install removed components and fill with lube till it comes out fill hole.

Edit: If after pulling the axle, you notice scoring or overheating where the bearing rides, they make a repair bearing that pushes the bearing on a new section of the axle to restart the process. This bearing also incorporates the seal into the bearing.

 

nice right up MKCoconuts ,may want to keep that as a stickey ,I was thinking the other thing is changing the gear oil as there is no telling how much he lost ,an what the gear box looks like in there

 

I may just do an actual write up at some point. I have a spare axle housing that I can use to do the write up.

 

Do a detailed write up with pretty pictures, and we can sticky it/put it with the how-to list.

 

yea very good write up..thanks

 

let us know how it goes ,an I would change the pumpkin cover seal an replace 80w90 I think it takes like 1 an a half bottles of gear oil 3.5 pints so 1 3/4ths 32 ounce bottles or 56 ounces walmart sells it cheap

 

I am going to change the bearing just to be safe. What is the difference between a wheel bearing and an axle repair bearing. I see the physical difference but should I choose one over the other?


Also, would I need a separate seal if Install the axle repair bearing? It looks like its already on there.

 

The axle repair bearing moves the bearing to a new spot on the axle shaft in case the original spot on the shaft is damaged for some reason. Check it for any scoring or over heating, if you can feel anything other than smooth metal, get the repair bearing. And as you noticed, the repair bearing has the seal integrated into it.

Any axle that has had regular gear oil changes shouldn't need the repair bearing

 

cool ,good to know I change mine every 2 years reguardless,but I think I need a new seal ,just a very small leak ,probley from the burnouts