Rear Axle Seals: The Ultimate Information and Replacement Thread (3rd gen)

[mtbtim]

Aaaaaaand it failed again. Mechanic said the only thing I haven't replaced is the Axle and maybe that's what's causing it to fail only 3 and a half years after having a top-notch pro do it for me?

Any ideas of why this seems to never last more than a few years? I promise I'm not beating on it. I'm about sick of this GD truck which only has a 220K on the clock and I was planning on driving forever but am losing faith in. Convert to disk and be done with it? That doesn't seem to be a straightforward issue. If I could just buy a damn kit and do it I would, but this off-and-on, fixed-and-broken shit is getting me down. Pretty sure the new silver truck has the same damn issue, so I've got that to look forward to.

The problem is your "Top Notch Pro" isn't a Top Notch Pro for this job. This has got to be the #1 job the "Pros" screw up.

Watch both my videos, read the video descriptions and read the comments I pinned (1st comment you see) and then you'll know more than most of the "Pros" about this repair.


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[Rushthezeppelin]

Welp, now I'm in the club! Found my drums splattered with gear oil this morning. Since my time is limited and my bearings aren't howling yet I'm gonna try to get away with buying the tool, flipping the retainer and replacing the seal only... and my fairly new brake shoes :smashputer: I figure worst case scenario the bearings start going bad eventually, and I already have the tool/experience to deal with it then


I know this is a year old post and you've probably been informed, but are you aware a forum member here does produce a rear disc conversion kit? It's pretty dang simple believe it or not, I've been wanting to snag one for a while now but just haven't gotten to it

If you are going so far as to buy the tool you might as well do the bearing too. You can get Koyo bearings from Advance that are literally the OEM bearings for way less than OEM and they come with new retainers. It's really a minor amount of additional work to get the bearing while you are in there.

 

[Rushthezeppelin]

Sorry meant Napa not Advance

 

[Toy2play]

It seems most people are using the harbor freight 20 ton press to replace the bearing and retainers. I picked up a harbor freight 12 ton at a yard sale for 20 bucks since I've always wanted a press at home. A month later I have a leaky axle so I thought this would be a perfect time to use the press. I've replaced my bearing and seal a few years ago but had a shop press new gear on.

I'm wondering if its physically possible to use the 12 ton press to remove and install all new hardware with the exception of one retainer and abs gear. I would buy the removal tool you can buy on ebay if it's possible to use with the 12 ton press. Is the main problem the distance from the lowest setting on the crossmember to the Jack isnt tall enough? I've heard that you can remove the wheel studs for additional room. Has anyone successfully removed and installed the bearing and retainers with a 12 ton press from harbor freight?

 

[Toy2play]

I wanted to update my situation and answer my own question so others know. I bought the bearing puller on ebay and this tool wont work with a 12 ton harbor freight press unless you modify it a little bit which wasn't a big deal. The reason it will not work is the space between the crossmember is too skinny for the bearing puller to slide up through it. Tool comes in around 4.5" wide. I had to grind off some of the metal in order for it to fit through. I think it was a little over a half inch on each side of the tool. Just enough of the flange to cut back so it could be slide up through the space between the crossmember on the press. Obviously this can change the strength of the tool by taking off material so do it at your own risk. 12 ton jack had plenty of strength to pop off the bearing and retainers in my case There's enough space between the jack and lowest setting on the crossmember to work with to remove and install the retainers, abs ring and bearing. I did not have to remove any wheel studs for extra space. It was pretty close but just barely enough space to complete the job.

Overall it was really easy to use the tool and press for this job. I dont know the spacing of other 12 ton press but harbor freight 12 ton worked great.

 

[Bad Luck]

I wanted to update my situation and answer my own question so others know. I bought the bearing puller on ebay and this tool wont work with a 12 ton harbor freight press unless you modify it a little bit which wasn't a big deal. The reason it will not work is the space between the crossmember is too skinny for the bearing puller to slide up through it. Tool comes in around 4.5" wide. I had to grind off some of the metal in order for it to fit through. I think it was a little over a half inch on each side of the tool. Just enough of the flange to cut back so it could be slide up through the space between the crossmember on the press. Obviously this can change the strength of the tool by taking off material so do it at your own risk. 12 ton jack had plenty of strength to pop off the bearing and retainers in my case There's enough space between the jack and lowest setting on the crossmember to work with to remove and install the retainers, abs ring and bearing. I did not have to remove any wheel studs for extra space. It was pretty close but just barely enough space to complete the job.

Overall it was really easy to use the tool and press for this job. I dont know the spacing of other 12 ton press but harbor freight 12 ton worked great.

If you got one from Donald the bonald from eBay he makes a version specifically for that press.

 

[Toy2play]

If you got one from Donald the bonald from eBay he makes a version specifically for that press.

Not sure how I missed that one, I see that now. Good to know for future reference. I think i went with the cheapest one cause i wasn't sure if it was going to work at all. I didnt want to be out too much and i wasn't worried about modifying it. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[96RedRunner]

I think i went with the cheapest one cause i wasn't sure if it was going to work at all. I didnt want to be out too much and i wasn't worried about modifying it.

Good thinking on your part !!

 

[Clickx]

thumbs freaking up.

 

[Clickx]

insane writeup, thank you!

 

[Devbot]

Are the axles supposed to be bone dry all the time? I replaced both my seals a while ago (did the whole spacer flip and whatnot), and when I did my locker yesterday both my axles were wet all the way to the ABS ring. They both had an even amount and for what it's worth it hasn't seeped to the outside yet. Did the seals fail?

 

[Bad Luck]

Are the axles supposed to be bone dry all the time? I replaced both my seals a while ago (did the whole spacer flip and whatnot), and when I did my locker yesterday both my axles were wet all the way to the ABS ring. They both had an even amount and for what it's worth it hasn't seeped to the outside yet. Did the seals fail?

If your ABS ring has gear oil on it then your inner axle seal isn't doing it's job correctly

 

[Rushthezeppelin]

Are the axles supposed to be bone dry all the time? I replaced both my seals a while ago (did the whole spacer flip and whatnot), and when I did my locker yesterday both my axles were wet all the way to the ABS ring. They both had an even amount and for what it's worth it hasn't seeped to the outside yet. Did the seals fail?

Sounds like they failed. Have you done the breather extension mod yet?

 

[96RedRunner]

Anything outboard of seal is leaking or seeping.
Being a recent seal job some seeping is what it sounds like, I'd bet seals were put in a tad cockeyed
to the axle. Takes a bit of time for the odd wear on seal to start seeping. $.02

 

[Devbot]

Anything outboard of seal is leaking or seeping.
Being a recent seal job some seeping is what it sounds like, I'd bet seals were put in a tad cockeyed
to the axle. Takes a bit of time for the odd wear on seal to start seeping. $.02

If your ABS ring has gear oil on it then your inner axle seal isn't doing it's job correctly

Hmm, I'll have to dig into it this weekend and do a sharpie test to see how they're riding. What's strange is they were leaking out of the outer seal last time but this time my drums are totally dry, even though I didn't replace that seal
Really wish I would've done a sharpie test while I had the axles out but I was too excited to finally have a locker and didn't think about it until the next day :lol:

Sounds like they failed. Have you done the breather extension mod yet?

Yep did it like two or three years ago

 

[Bad Luck]

Hmm, I'll have to dig into it this weekend and do a sharpie test to see how they're riding. What's strange is they were leaking out of the outer seal last time but this time my drums are totally dry, even though I didn't replace that seal
Really wish I would've done a sharpie test while I had the axles out but I was too excited to finally have a locker and didn't think about it until the next day :lol:



Yep did it like two or three years ago

You did drain the differential before pulling the axle shafts, right? If you didn't then I could see that being the issue.

 

[Devbot]

You did drain the differential before pulling the axle shafts, right? If you didn't then I could see that being the issue.

You bet your ass I didn't! Oil's too expensive right now to be throwing it out all willy nilly like that! :whip:

 

[Rushthezeppelin]

You bet your ass I didn't! Oil's too expensive right now to be throwing it out all willy nilly like that! :whip:

That might explain it then. If you don't jack up just the side of the axle you are taking out then the oil level might be high enough to spill over the seal a tad bit. Did you clean up the axles before you put them back in? If so then you can just check through the ABS sensor hole sometime down the line to see if the gear is wet again.

 

[Bad Luck]

You bet your ass I didn't! Oil's too expensive right now to be throwing it out all willy nilly like that! :whip:

That's probably your issue then. I'm assuming you pulled both axle shafts so the fluid level would have been high enough to make it past the inner axle seal with the axle shaft being out or even just pulled back. I use a clean container to catch fluids that are still good for reuse.

 

[96RedRunner]

When did you notice the wet ABS ring? As you were pulling axle from tube the first time for this job?
If so, seals are seeping. Tone ring is free and clear of axle housing before lube has chance to get it wet.
Did you pull axles all the way out an store them standing upright on studs while installing locker?
Now that would give you lube on the tone ring.
I've pulled axles on a full diff you can pull it, turn, stand on studs out of the way, be back in time to stuff
a rag in tube with little loss.