rear diff pinion seal

you remove the pinion yoke, not the pinion itself. Its easy, just remove the nut, slide off the yoke, remove the seal. Then install the new one with a seal driver( or be careful taping around the edge) re install the pinion yoke lubing the seal so it doesn't tear. re install the nut and cotter pin if it has one. Be sure to torque the nut to proper spec

Edited by the_ocho - 03 Oct. 2014 at 8:36pm

To remove the seal itself I use a slide hammer. I drill a small hole in the end of the seal, Install a sheet metal screw in the slide hammer and screw it in .Than slide hammer it out. Works great for removing all seals.

I just did mine and it was a pain!  Everything went fine except the seal was stuck pretty hard.  The nut came off pretty easily with a pipe wrench on the pinion yolk.  I used a standard gear puller to remove the yolk, and then the seal removal began.  I tried every standard seal removal tool I had with no luck, and finally ended up drilling some holes in the seal and threading some screws in to mate with one of the pullers I have.  It was ugly, but it worked!  Pictures attached.

My only concern is possible metal particles in the diff oil, so I plan to drain and flush as best as I can before refilling.  Hope that is good enough.

Yea, I tried that one since it looked like it would work, but it was a very tight fit to get in, and then just bent out the inner lip of the seal frame everywhere I tried it with no movement of the seal.  that's why I resorted to drilling for the screws even though I was concerned about metal particles getting in.

Missed your edit before I posted my reply to the picture.  Not sure I understand your chisel method, but it sounds like it may be as risky as my drilling!  Got any pictures?

So are you talking about inserting the chisel between the OD of the seal and the ID of the diff housing?  Because mine was flush and would have been difficult to do that without damaging the housing. 

If you are concerned about the metal shavings when drilling you can use a heavy grease on the drill bit to catch the metal shavings or use a magnet next to the bit. I still like your the puller system. I have also in the past  used a 1/4 sharp wood chisel to cut and collapse the seal housing but you have to be careful not to score the sealing surface.

    Jim

  

Abe,  your puller is trying to pull out the whole seal out at the same time, and too slowly. In using the Slide hammer you use only one screw hole .The quick pulling action is the trick. some times a screw does pull out, I just drill another hole. generally pulling that seal usually takes me about 15 minutes.  trust me.