Axle Leaks... again..

[Blue88Comanche]

I'll start with the D30, it has developed a pinion seal leak over the past couple months, how difficult is it to change the pinion seal my self? And where can i get a new D30 breather tube? mine is damaged in a couple places and the plastic fitting is broken off.

 

The D44 has apparently been leaking for a while through the passinger side shaft seal.  i discovered it when i finally decided to fix my parking breaks not holding properly...  brakes soaked in oil will do that...  can i buy a shaft with pre-installed bearings and seal?

[sinkrun]

Sounds just like mine  my d44 is leaking just told this at last inspection and the fronts been leaking for about a year. For the rear take the shafts out and to a auto machine shop and let them do bearing and seals then just slide the shafts back in.

The front looks like a pain theres some write ups on the net about it.

[Jtrux]

The pinion seal is waaay easier to replace with the pinion out...but that requires a fair amount of work.

 

Pull the drive shaft.

 

Pull the yoke.  A 2-arm puller from Harbor Freight will be your best friend.  They come in a 3 pack of varying sizes and will be useful in many jobs down the road.  Buy them.

 

Using a small chisel, go around the entire perimeter of the metal surface of the seal where it sits on the diff housing.  As it begins to peel up, try prying on it.  This will be time consuming, btw.  Be careful not to get any chunks of metal or anything like that inside the the housing.  The outer pinion bearing is right inside there so you don't want any crap to get into it.

 

When you put the yoke back on, clean it well and scuff the sealing surface with very fine grit sand paper.  Just lightly.  The small grooves you introduce into the yoke is where the oil penetrates and what actually does the sealing.

 

The rear axle is a little more involved in that it requires removal of the bearing.  If you do not have a press, your better off just pulling the axle and taking it somewhere.   If you do have a press, I'll gladly explain the process.