Front pinion seal question

[speedracerbubba]

Mine started leaking on me and I am wondering how hard it is to replace. I know it isn't as easy as the output seal on a ford c6 (slip yoke ftw), but will I need to mess with a crush sleeve or anything like that or is it as simple as it seems?

 

[barryh]

Changing the front seal is easy if you have the tools. firstly you need to remove the front drive shaft which is held by 6 x8mm bolts with 8mm head size-- need good quality socket especially if some fool has loctited threads.Second problem is to hold shaft while you break loose the bolts-- I used a locking set of chain vise-- ideal.
When shaft is clear the actual pinion nut is inch and one eighth. Before you attempt to undo nut,you need to remove brake pads so that you can measure the drag or preload of the pinion. I actually used a spring balance( bought online from Germany) which is a much cheaper option than trying to source a tension wrench in in/lbs.
The next thing to do is to undo Pinion. Make sure you have the big socket bars out--3/4" is ideal as you will be undoing at least 180 ft/lbs.
Pull the coupling and extract the seal. Get out your tension wrench that goes up to 250lbs and apply enough pressure to get the pinion back to the same preload--easy eh

 

[speedracerbubba]

Thank you, Barry.
Local shop wants $300 to replace the seal. No bearings, crush sleeves, etc.. just the seal replacement.

Good thinking on the spring balance.

 

[speedracerbubba]

Wasn't hard, just time consuming. With taking breaks to play with my dog it took me about three hours.

Next job I'm going to eventually tackle is the steering rack bushings. One of them has a little but of play.