Front axle seal

[thatsmokinobs]

The front axle on my 97 f350 is leaking Pretty badly. Ive never changed an axle seal before. How hard is it to change the seal(s)? How many seals are there?

 

[gnxtc2]

Pinion or inner seal?

Billy T.
[email protected]

 

[thatsmokinobs]

I don't know. How can I tell?

 

[zilla68]

is it leaking out the axle tube onto the drivers or pass tire/ground or is it leaking out the back of the pumpkin where the drive shaft bolts up?

 

[zilla68]

its not really too hard, if you have the tools.
I am doing mine right now, tore down both sides and removed the ring gear/carrier in about 2 hours or so.

waiting on seals now to finish it back up

 

[thatsmokinobs]

It's out the tube on the drivers side. What tools would I need

 

[zilla68]

if your doing one you need to do both.
you will need various hand tools, a special 1/2 socket for the hub nuts, nothing really specialty.
the deal is you have to pull the carrier, so if you don't do both sides, you will be doing the other shortly i'm afraid.
I have a thread going on for my repair, i'll try and get you some pics.

 

[thatsmokinobs]

Yeah I was gonna do everyone I could while I was in there. What's the special socket?

 

[zilla68]

i'll have to get you the part number off it, its just a hub socket, 1/2" drive, needed to remove the hub, the nuts are behind the hubs.

 

[thatsmokinobs]

Oh is it the one with the 6 notches in it you have to use to remove the rotors and axle shafts n sh!t?

 

[zilla68]

it depends, actually, I bought the one my truck should have had, but ended up needing a different one. i'll grab you the tool number in the am

 

[thatsmokinobs]

I've already got that socket

 

[zilla68]

then you should be good with basic hand tools and a big hammer

 

[thatsmokinobs]

I got it all torn down today. Gears and everything out. Turns out my socket was for a dana 44 I'm guessing ad it was about a 1/4 inch too small and so was my dad's. Ended up doing it the wrong way and using a chisel and hammer :doh: but it worked and I have to replace the adjusting nuts on one side anyways. I will not be putting it back together that way, im gonna get the right socmet tomorrow along with everything else i need. Gonna just go ahead and replace every seal in the whole axle while I'm in there. Happen to know what the backlash should be set at when putting it back together? It was at 8-10 thousandths when I took it apart, so I should set it back to that, correct?

 

[zilla68]

I used the stage 8 dana 60 locking set up to replace those axle nuts, very worth the money!!

 

[79jasper]

You talking the hub bearings or the pinion bearing?
For the hub you usually want them tighter than they came out. (Because of wear they usually aren't where they should be) one of mine was actually loose enough to turn it off with just a screwdriver.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

 

[thatsmokinobs]

The backlash on the ring and pinion

 

[thatsmokinobs]

Had a productive night. Cleaned out the pumpkin and axle tubes, got both inner seals pounded in, got the gears popped in (gaddamn was that a pain in the d!ck. Went in easier than i thought though, since we had to use a 6 ft bar to pry it out) and got both u joints replaced. Backlash on the gears is right where it was before at 8-10 thousandths. Gotta order even more parts :cursing: need new seals on the end of the axle shafts for the needle bearings. Gonna clean up the Diff cover and probably paint it white while I wait for parts