Rear axle seal

[Wildebeest]

Age seems to be taking it's toll on my Lib. Just replaced a leaking valve cover and now noticed one side of the rear axle is starting to leak a tiny bit...

Looking at the factory manual this repair looks fairly straight forward, however other than changing the gear oil I've never worked on an axle.

Any words of warning? Or is this as easy as it seems...

 

[TwoBobsKJ]

Age seems to be taking it's toll on my Lib. Just replaced a leaking valve cover and now noticed one side of the rear axle is starting to leak a tiny bit...

Looking at the factory manual this repair looks fairly straight forward, however other than changing the gear oil I've never worked on an axle.

Any words of warning? Or is this as easy as it seems...

It's as easy as it seems. I just replaced bearings and seals on both sides and it took about 20 minutes. Squeezing the oil out of the quart containers into the diff took 45 though :emotions34:

Do yourself a favor and get a new pinion bolt that holds the pinion shaft in the carrier. They are prone to break and a replacement is less than $5US. Not that it's a guarantee the bolt will break but if you take up this project on a Sunday afternoon and the bolt breaks - and you need the Jeep on Monday - you'll want to have that insurance :waytogo:

Bob

 

[Hockeygoon]

Along those words of advise I always advise that you remove the FILL PLUG first in a repair like this. I've had it happen once that I've drained and repaired an issue with an axle only to find the fill plug locked in place with rust and a stripped plug with no means to remove it. Makes that drive to work on Monday a PIA to plan for.