Greetings,

I had a left side brake "Meltdown" on my '99 CTD 3500 4x4 and had to replace the rotors. I decided to do the entire job with new stuff up there and Wow, what a process. The Four Wheel Anti-loc sensor's made it a bear to R&R the hubs from the knuckle.

In the process of removing the hub from the passenger side of the truck, I damaged the axle seal. Oil is running down the axle tube, I believe from way up near the pumpkin, and dripping on the ground.

My truck is on Jackstand's, and my wife is out of town. That means running for parts is on my bycycle.

My questions are:

Does anybody know how to replace that seal ?
Is the seal way up inside next to the ring/pinion gear ?
Do I have to remove the front cover, and R&R both Axles to remove the gear set from in the pumpkin? (For seal access)

HELP! Can't verywell take it to the dealer when it's on jackstands, so I'd better "McGyver" this mess I've gotten myself into...

I'll be riding my bike to work in the AM, and I'll check in throughout the day before I start gutting the 'ole Dana 60f.

Thank you for any help that you may have to offer,

Pete "McGyver"
USAF - Kingsley Field, Oregon

 

yeah you have to open up the pumkin and pull the carrier to pop the seals out from inside ........... not really a fun job

oh yeah if the axle is grooved you can get a speedy sleeve to fix that , I had to on mine

 

Hey, thanks for the reply.

What is a "Speedy Sleeve"? Is it a type/brand of seal?

Also, will I have to drop the front driveline, and pul both axles back off to get the gear set out?

Thanks again for the reply, i've never done this repair before, on any truck...

 

You can get at the right axle seal through the center axle disconnect hole. There's no room to swing a hammer to tap it in. You can pull the seal in with some allthread and a couple of plates. I used the plate from a seal driver kit. There's some directions here Dave Fritz's They have both axles pulled which you don't have to do. If there's a groove in the axle, just seat the seal at a different depth so the lip rides on a fresh part of the axle. Oh yeah, buy 2 seals, you'll be working on the thin inner side of the seal and they bend really easy.

 

What berner said on the install, a piece of ready rod and some home brew plates (maybe a socket on the seal) to pull the seal into place. We have a tool like that at work with cups that fit the end of the axle and into the seal...How do you know you "damaged" the seal?

 

Thanks for the quick responses, this will be a big help. Although I'm pretty mechanically inclined, I've never tore into a dana60 before.

Berner: Where is that "Center Axle dis-connect hole" located at? I'll be crawling under this afternoon to find it. I'll go to the store and buy some allthread and some nuts today.

J BODY: Although I haven't seen the seal to determine if it's damaged, I know it is because I never pulled the shaft out and the seal is leaking. I couldn't get my puller to thread deep enough to push the shaft out of the hub, so I had to tap on the center of the shaft to get it to clear the hub all the way. Hunch is that when I tapped the shaft, I drove it inward way too far and damaged the seal... thoughts?

I'll check in around noon before riding my bike back from work. I took the afternoon off to give some extra time for this messup...

Pete

 

Very good instructions here>
http://dieselpowerman.tripod.com/Fro...xle%20Tech.htm

 

After asking the question, I found the hyperlink on the reply.

Thanks for pointing that out for me again, I'm sorta' "Flailing" here.

I'll check out the instructions more detailed later... Looks like a lot of work and time.

I'm into it big now, looks like I'll have to get a few seals, cover/pan gasket, all thread, and some brake cleaner...

Thanks,

Pete

 

Does anybody have the part number for the axle seal on the passenger side? NAPA say's that they don't have a listing for it...

Pete

 

Go to a different NAPA, they got both of them for me. You don't need to pull the front cover to do the passenger side. The central axle disconnect gasket is a Chrysler only piece, SOO be careful of it!!

 

I did a brake job on my 98 and thought I had ruined the seal also. Only to find out it was just the fluid that was still in the axle tube that had run out when the axle was out. It had me fooled enough to buy seals etc and was ready to change them and realized the leak was gone. So be sure all the fluid is out of the tube before you get yourself into a bunch of work. My 02 worth.

 

I'll take heed of that advice. I'll clean up the oil good and wait for any more seepage.

It's quite possible I suppose that what J BODY and BIGBADBOB say is true...

I only hope

going home now to tear into it...

 

ps. mcmopar,

thanks. I called another NAPA and got the CR seal number for the Dana60f seal. It's a 16015 CR brand part number. No problems getting it. The only problem is that nobody has the front diff gasket.

I only have these parts on hold, hoping that I won't need them. I'll try to replace the passenger seal w/o pulling the ring/pinion gear set if it comes to that.

Thanks all...

 

You really don't need a gasket for the diff cover, just use silicone.

 

I used silicone on the front cover and the axle discon. cover too. Has held up great since 6 months ago.

-Jake