Have any of you guys had much experiance changing the front axle seals. I changed the UV joints this weekend (finally put greasables in). I must have hit the seal putting the axles back in. I guess it was just a matter of time, changed 5 times already with the seals stil good. how much of a pita are they. Any tips to make it easier? thanks.

 

They are a pain. Dodge has a special tool to but them in. They need to be pulled in from the inside out. You're obviously not afraid to pull the axles so thats have the battle. The driver's side is the easy one, it's the passenger's side thats the problem. After you pull the axles, you need to pull the differential out. Inorder to do that you need to take the four wheel drive motor off the axle tube to remove the intermidiate shaft, if you leave it in four wheel dirve it is easier to line it all back up when you put it together. The problem I had was I broke three out of the four bolts that held the motor on and had to drill and tap new ones. Depending on how used and abused your truck is it is a comman problem. After you get that all apart the seals are put in fron the differential side. Dodge has a three foot puller that slides all the way through the passenger side. I checked with my buddy that works for the local Dodge garage and they charge 8 hrs for the job, thats like $480.00 in labor alone. I bought a seal puller from Autozone for like $8.00 and duct taped a long socket extention to it and it worked for me. As you found out be careful putting the axles back in. Good Luck and I hope I helped>

 

Actually, you can make a seal installer from a piece of all thread, some washers, a nut, and a socket

Somewhat detailed instructions here: http://www.pavementsucks.com/tech/axleseal.php

Better pictures here: http://dieselpowerman.tripod.com/Fro...xle%20Tech.htm (It's for a Dana 60, but the procedure is the same...torque values and bolt sizes however are different)

 

thanks guys. looks like another ton of fun job. I think I will give it a try on Saturday.