Paws

Hello Everyone,

About 2 years ago or so ago I asked you guys how to replace my front U-joints and now it's time to change the seals in my front axle. It was explained to me that the seal was near the diff. and to change the seal I would need to pull the diff and the assorted items. Is this true? And does any one have some good advise for doing this chore. Oh, while I am doing this I also need to fix a fuel leak that is on the back side of my fuel pump. Don't know where its comming from, not a fuel line though. Got any ideas? The fuel pump was rebuilt 8 months ago and since I installed and removed myself they will only honor the warranty for 6 months , so all the help the I can get the better mood I will be in!

Thanks

Paws

Big Perm

Negative.. you don't need to pull the diff to change a seal. That would simply be silly

Thats like pulling the engine to replace the oil filter.

I don't have any good writes ups to point you to, but if you search around on the interweb you should find some good write ups w/ pictures even

timb

If I remember correctly, You dont need to pull anything but the yoke to get to the seal. just take the nut off of the yoke, pull the yoke off, and use a screw driver to pry the seal out. use a little silicone on the outside of the new seal when you put it in. it will act as a lubricant to get it in and help seal the outside afterwards.

Hope this help's and good luck.

torquefan

The above advice holds true for a pinion seal, but in this case it is the axle shaft seals we are talking about. On a 93, the differential carrier does indeed have to be removed.

Regarding the fuel leak, the most common leak on a VE pump is down low on the engine side of the pump. There is an advance housing with an oval shaped cover, held on by 2 screws. The pump needs to be removed, but the o-ring is easy to change. I get these o-rings from a Bosch approved pump shop. Cummins may have them. (I never checked.) You can sort of see this cover from under the truck. Clean it off with brakekleen and compressed air, then run the truck for a second to verify the leak source.
Hope this helps.

Alec

No, it is like pulling the engine to replace the crank -- a necessary evil. It is a pretty good PITA to change those seals. You have to pull the differential carrier out, and the seals are pressed in from inside the carrier housing. Why they don't have a carrier bushing and seal at the knuckle end of the tube I will never understand

Take the front axle shafts out.

Take the cover off the diff.

Mark the bearing caps for the carrier carefully, and remove (It is best to stamp a different letter into the top of each cap, and then the corresponding letter into the housing nearby, so that you keep them on the correct side and the right way round).

Get a floor jack with a clean non-marking cover (cover the plate with some thick clean cloths) to roll the carrier onto.

Put a wood block against the housing on each side, and use pry bars against the blacks to pull the carrier from the housing. It should have been set at the factory to a .004" interference fit, so it may be a little tight, but you should be able to get it out.

Now you can pull out the seals, and clean out the axle tubes. A lot of fellows seem to like to make tools for this out of heavy threaded rod.

I painted the inside of my tubes with POR-15 -- I figured at least it would seal in whatever dirt I couldn't clean up and make a nice clean surface to slide the shafts back in over.

To put the carrier back in, you need to set it up against the housing, and tilt the bearing races to get them started. You can then drive the races in, a little bit on each side at a time with a soft-faced mallet (or 12lb sledge and clean block of wood). Make sure that everything is very clean and well lubricated so that you don't damage the bearings or spall anything.

If the carrier goes in loose (you can fit more than a .001 feeler in beside the bearing cup on one side), you have a problem, and need to re-set-up the differential.

Put the caps back where they came from, and torque them down -- I don't have the spec handy, but if Dave doesn't put it up, I will try to tomorrow.

Good luck.

timb

I am sorry for missundferstanding the problem. I thought that you were changing the pinion seal only. My bad.

pmtg

my front seal just started to leak and i went searching on the web and found this click me ,it has pictures and procedures.

hope this helps, Pat

apwatson50

That has a different axle than ours as it has a CAD ours is better with manual lockout hubs, but the idea is the same for the seals.

pmtg

yeah, i sorta failed to mention that detail. gives some insight though.

wannadiesel

I'm gonna spoil your fun, Alec.

70 to 90 ft#

Apparently it's not that important, just get it tight.

Good instructions there from Alec. All I would add is that if the truck has a typical amount of miles on it you won't need to pry the diff out, and you won't need to drive it back in. If it's running quiet and the gears and bearings look good, just put it back together.

Paws

Thanks for the advise we will see how it goes.

Paws