Front axle seals leaking bad on my dakota 4x4. Im trying to remove the axle to replace the seal. Is there a trick to pulling it out. The clip on mine is holding it pretty tight.

 

They can hang on fairly tight..... If you have the outer end out of the hub, you *should* be able to at worst, get something behind the inner CV, and pop it loose.

 

I’m doing the drivers side right now. I’m getting a surprising amount of rust coming out of where the axle slips on the spline. Going to let the "knocker Loose" work on it. I neglected to order top ball joints thinking they were good. Wrong have to get some. No big hurry I have a Pontiac Solstice for my summer ride.

 

In North Dakota??? Summer??? I thought you folks had ran out of that weeks ago.

 

Summer is a state of mind my friend.

 

this is how the passenger side came out. Do I need to take the cover off the front diff or will it clip back in?

 

Should just be a snap-ring type thing, that will go right back in. Is it still on the inner end of the axle?

 

The ring is still on on the shaft. I did get the drivers side off finally. I don’t care for the pitting on the shaft but will give it a shot on how long its lasts before the seal fails again. I cleaned and shined it up. We will see. Passenger side is going to soak for a few days.

 

Well its back together. Drivers side did come apart. Sealing surface was not as good as I would have liked, but I did not want to try to pull the stub shaft. Passenger side CV axle never did come apart from the halfshaft. The halfshaft came out of the diff so that was kind of lucky. I have a new halfshaft and CV joint on the passenger side. Its my mission now to get that CV off the shaft without damaging the CV axle. Its really tight. doesn’t budge. Heated with a propane torch a few times. Pounded with a hammer. Still wont budge. Gong to let it soak. If the shaft can be stubborn so can I. I have time and patients.