I have a very slow leak coming from the passenger side seal on my front axle. While its not all that much to be concerned about puddle wise, my worry is while I am wheelin out here in Montana, am i getting water and junk going back in. regardless I wish to change it out. My question is to anyone that has done this before. How daunting of a task is it? Do I need to take apart the entire outer wheel assembly and remove the axle from the tube to change that seal? I am wary of removing the axle from the housing as that is an area I have very rarely gone on any vehicle I have ever owned. Advice or reassurance will be greatly appreciated.

 

its pretty easy actually. But its a pain in the a$$. You'll need to make a 4 ft slide hammer out of all thread.

you have to remove the axle and open up the CAD cover.

 

ick, thats what I was afraid of, but worth it. I guess I should stop fording streams and creeks for the time being until I get the boredom to take on a task of that magnitude.

 

The passenger side is a lot easier to change than the driver side seal. On the driver side, you have to remove the carrier.

Here is the write up for the Dana 60. It's almost the same process...just a different size socket needed for the tube. It's the best write-up I've found that includes pics and info for BOTH axle seals. Pavementsucks has a write-up for seals, but the only show pics for the drive side seal which is actually the easier of the two to change (once you have everything taken apart).