Developed a leak in the front axle seal on the passenger side. I've noticed that a lot of the write ups (not for Daks, but for Rams) involve having to disassemble the differential.

I found this video on YouTube and the guy just removed the CV shafts, popped the old seal out, and hammered in a new one.


Is it really that simple? Why do I see people saying you have to pull the cover off and do work internally?

Thanks

 

I know on the older Dakotas (like my vintage), the axles were "permanently" fastened into the differential and the CV shafts bolted onto flanges. For those, you would need to pop the cover. But not for the newer ones, AFAIK.

Kinda like this:
front_zps7ef9fb95.jpg

 

Thanks Tom.

I must say you were the one who I was hoping for a reply from! Not to say others wouldn't be able to help, I just know that you would.

So on our Daks it must be the newer axles eh? Makes me feel a lot better knowing that the CV joints just needed to be removed and not have to mess with the internals.

I also plan on bringing my truck into my mechanic Friday in hopes of him finding that terrible hum it's developed - still stumped.

 

Thanks for the compliment.

I think the flange-style axles were only used for a couple of years (maybe 97-99?), so yours is probably the newer style.

Yeah, that hum is a weird one. I hope your mechanic finds it, because I can't wait to hear what it was.

 

I haven't had any luck getting mine out of the axle housing. I wish they still used the flanges. So much easier

 

Oh yeah? I hadn't planned on addressing this until it got bad.

Id probably just heat up the axle housing and beat the CV shaft till it came out.

If ya get yours out make sure to share any tips and tricks!

 

If your talking about the front axle seal, you need to remove the half shaft (after removing the CV axle) with a specialty tool and a 10 pound slide hammer. Once the half shaft is removed, the seal can be removed and replaced, then the half shaft can be pushed back in. I had to do the front passenger side on my 02 Dakota 4x4.