My inner axle shaft seals are leaking and im wondering what your guys input is on installing new outer axle shaft seals, its def easier than pulling out the third member for new inners. I have it torn apart and they would be an ez install... For those of you who aren’t familiar here is a link... THIS IS NOT AN ADVERTISMENT!!! Top search result.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...xle+shaft+seal

 

A friend of mine told me about these the other day. Supposedly they work well at keeping stuff out but are not that great on keeping oil in. Especially if your inner seals are completely shot. Give em a try and post up, my inner seals are leaking on my crawler and I might throw in a set of these if they work well.

 

What drillpipe said.....

Those outer "seals" don't retain oil and will not be a substitute for blown inner seals. They are intended only to keep debris out of the axle tubes and to help prolong the life of inner seals that are already intact.

 

Thanks for the reply.

Am i correct in saying i have to pull the third member to replace the inner seals? If so is it as ez as pulling the bearing caps off sliding it out, replacing seals, and re assembling it? Would i have to re measure and shim everything?

 

What kind of axle are we talking about? Those seals you were inquiring about are for a D60 which does not have a 3rd member assembly but has an integeral carrier assembly within the housing. The carrier on a D60 will have to be removed on a D60 to access the inner shaft seals.

 

Yes im refering to a dana 60. Is it just a matter of taking out the axle shafts, and bearing caps to pull the "integeral carrier assembly" (thanks for the correction) out? And do i have to remasure and shim it, or can i just put it back togeater the same way it came out?

Thanks
--William

 

Yes, you are correct about the procedure to access the seals.....and no, you don't have to re-shim anything - a Dana axle will not lose any of it's ring and pinion adjustments by removing the carrier. Just don't mix up the carrier bearing races and be sure to re-install the carrier bearing caps with the correct orientation.

 

Should i build a case spreader or just be careful putting it back togeather? Is the "bearing pre-load" to mutch to put it back togeather with out one? Or is what i said horably wrong?


-Thanks!
-William

 

With proper carrier bearing preload, you can wrestle the carrier out with a pry bar and no spreader.....a hammer and a brass punch on the bearing races will tap it back in place again. Obviously, if you have a spreader there will be no wrestling match - it will be easy. Anything bigger than a D60, I would not suggest removing the carrier and re-installing it without the spreader.

If the carrier comes in and out easily without the use of a spreader, there is not enough preload!

 

Theres a pic in my gallery of a cheap, crude but effective spreader. Made it for my 44 so I wouldn't bugger the ARB on install. Its just some 1-1/2" square tubing, 3/4" all-thread, and 1/4" bolts with the heads cut off for the pins. Made life a lot easier, especially when dealing with multiple install/remove when setting the backlash.

 

I decided to tare it apart and see how hard it was to pull out. After it jumped out of the diff with no efford i decided i didnt need a case spreader

 

Well then, you better buy some shims and or try stacking them differently on the carrier to get the proper pre-load. I may be wrong here, but I think the proper amount should be between 12-15 thousandths? CTD NUT, you have any input here?

 

Well then, as JAX pointed out, you better get that carrier shimmed up if it just falls out! There isn't ANY preload (not good) if that is the case. Without knowing how loose the carrier is, it is difficult to say how many shims should be added. But for reference, usually when a carrier gets set up so that it slides in and out easily with no free play, adding one .005" shim per side should be fine and up to .010" per side if the initial set up was a touch loose.