My POS 01 screw blew an axle seal and is all fugdeg up. I wonder whats next? at 44K it's a bit premature I think.

What's all involved with the replacement of said seall???

 

Gotta jack up both wheels and put jack stands under axle. Remove tires/drums/disks so that axle hub is the only thing you see. If drum brakes, you don't have to remove the shoes.....

Remove diff cover. It's gonna get messy, so have large drip pan under there.

Now you should see the spider gears. There is a shaft that runs down the middle. There is a set screw holding the shaft in place. Remove the screw and pull out the shaft. DO NOT ROTATE THE AXLE whatsoever at this point!!

Now, carefully, push in on each axle. That will allow you to remove the large C clip that's inside all of this. Remove on both axles. Pull axles out just far enough to be able to put the shaft back in place. This will help keep the gears lined up. Now, pull out the axles all the way.

The reason I'm saying to do both is, that you might as well replace both seals on each side..... They only cost a couple bucks each, but you'll spend a whole lot more in gear lube if you end up having to do it again if the other side decides to go......

Use some kind of "puller" to get the the old seals out..... I just used the claw end of a hammer!!

To put the new ones in, I just used a 4x4 chunk of wood wrapped in a clean rag. Lined it up and hammered it in place! Worked like a charm and what else would a 'backyard mechanic' use???

Slide axles back in. Remove spider gear shaft again. Push in to get C clips back on. Put shaft back in, tighten up the set screw, clean out the housing of all the old lube. Clean up the cover mounting surface. Inspect the gears and whatever else strikes your fancy while you have the cover off.....

To put the cover back on, my 9.75" rear does not have a gasket for it. You are suppoesd to use RVT gasket stuff and then put the cover on. I just used some red "high temp" gasket maker stuff I had lying around. Let it setup for a few minutes, lightly screwed all the bolts back in, working in a criss cross pattern. I just tightened them enough to just start to see the stuff start to squeeze out. Let this set for about an hour or so.... Filled with new gear lube.... Make sure it's the right weight for your application! Mine was 75w140 synthetic only. I used Amsoil and a bottle of Fords Friction Modifier for the LS....

I had to re tighten the cover bolts a bit more, and after a day or two, I was able to tighten them up for good. This made for a really tight seal and I did this some time ago and no leaks yet!

Good luck!

Mitch

 

Thanks for that awesome tutorial.

Is the friction modifier necessary??

 

The Amsoil I used said it was spec'd for Limited Slip diffs, so I take it to mean that it has it's own 'friction modifier' in the blend.... Well, the Ford stuff only costs around $4.00 so I just used it in addition to the Amsoil..... The diff has 130k original miles on it now and the LS is still as tight as ever!

I guess some seals just go faster then others.... I replaced mine with about 120k on the clock..... Pass side was leaking on mine....

I followed the instructions from a Chiltons Shop Manual when I did it, but went from memory here......... So I hope I didn't leave anything out.........

Mitch