Help to replace 3000 leaking rear axle oil seal ?

Evidence of lots of oil inside left rear wheel and in wheel well leads me to think need to replace a leaking rear axle oil seal. Forum search yields no info.... Car is a BJ7.

Can anyone tell me if this task will require special tools or knowledge? Perhaps some helpful tips?

Naa replacing a rear Axel seal is not a high skill level task. You will require a new "O" ring and gasket. Standard hand tools will suffice, just pay attention to the sequence of dismantle and reassembly. Here you can use either the factory manual Preferably or a moss catalog to see the order of the parts. You will also be required to clean all the oil off the brake shoes and all the parts inside the brake hub.--Keoke

bock62, you will find the axle nuts to each be a "reverse thread", one for the left side and one for the right side, you will also need to beg, borrow, buy, make, a 2-3/16" socket or wrench for the nuts.

Only one of the axle nuts is a left-handed thread (same as the knock-offs).

You'll need a puller to pull the bearing hub (Harbor Freight has them--poor quality, but good for a job or two). You can reverse the axle and use the stud holes as a standoff to get the hub out part way, but you'll probably need a large puller to complete the job. Also, you'll likely need some sort of distance piece to put under the screw of the puller to get the last half-inch or so.

You'll need a hydraulic press to get the bearing out so you can get to the seal. Check your bearings while you're at it (of course, you'll have to press the bearing back in). The bearing can be checked before you pull the hub--turn the hub, it should feel smooth and not make grinding noises--any doubt replace it (if you don't know how old they are replace them on principal--they have to come out anyway and you'll be ticked-off if you have to do this job again in a year or two :wink:. Remember to pre-grease the lip of the seal!

I don't have an axle press, so I use suitably sized--same diameter as the inner race of the bearing--heavy steel tubing as a 'drift' to carefully hammer the hub back onto the axle housing. Then, replace the O-ring and paper gasket (make sure the O-ring stays in place when you put the axle back in). Use a new lock tab if all the sides have been used before.

Plan on doing both sides (or doing the job soon on the other side anyway).

Where are you located?

There is no need to rebuild the rear end simp;y replace the "O" ring and its gasket. The last thing IMOP you want todo is remove the hub from the main axel assy. Fwiw--Keoke

bobsidell, thanks, i stand corrected, certainly only the one side need be a reverse thread, and i agree with doing both sides if they havnt be recently changed out, i might add being careful with those easily broken, thin, fragil, paper gaskets.

Bock62 thinks his seal is shot. Sounds like it to me (bad O-ring or gasket won't spray oil in the wheel well). The only way to get to the seal is to remove the axle hub. If anybody knows an easier way I'd like to hear it--I've done this at least four times.

Seals wear out, the O-ring and gasket should last indefinitely if they were installed correctly (nothing to wear out--I suppose the O-ring could harden and crack in 20-30 years, but the gasket alone was sufficient on the 100s).

If it only the seal, it is,as Keoke says, straight forward (you do need that super-sized socket though, costs about 40 to 50 bucks. Some people chose to destroy the nut getting it off and replace it but you still need to put great torque on it which can only be done with the socket). I did not change the bearings as they seemed fine and a lot of extra work on something that was preforming well. That was 4 years ago and all is still well and I do check for leak spots often.
If you cannot borrow one, buy one from the usual sources. None of the "auto parts" stores like Napa have ever hear of one. I think it is 8 sided if I remember correctly.

Thanks for all the quick, detailed replies. I hear that there are two tasks -- one, easy, to just do outer O ring & gasket -- and second, hard, to also replace bearing and inner seal. Relative quickness and amount of oil points to latter. Need to see if I have the axle nut size socket & order parts.

Gambler would go for the easy and hope.

I live in Redondo Beach.

Keoke says O-ring and gasket (not seal). The seal is inside the hub. If you're spraying oil around the wheel well it's almost certainly a shot seal. Shot O-ring and/or gasket--I repeat: nothing to wear out or break--and most of the oil will be contained inside the brake drum and backing plate.

GOOD gambler covers his bets :wink:

I hear ya -- ordering parts.....

keoke, remember this????........ :banana:

Replacing the lip seal will not prevent leakage if there is corrosion/scoring on the axle stub itself which will soon destroy the rubber lip with the same old leakage once again.

I recently put speedi-sleeves on the stubs of my Elva (Sprite) rear axle and solved chronic leaks into the rear drums and wheels, etc. Installing the sleeves is not very difficult and they should not cost more than about $40-$50 per side.

anthony7777 said:

keoke, remember this????........ :banana:

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Yep, has to be an eight-sided sucker, though with one (1) wheel stud knocked out, you can use a fifteen inch (15") Crescent Wrench. That's what I used before I had the tools to make this:

What chu guys trying to tell me.--Keoke- :lol:

But I just wonder how the bearing get lubricated if the seal stop all the oil.??

anthony7777 said:

keoke, remember this????........ :banana:

Click to expand...

OH Yeah!!, this is that rusty thing you found in the swimmin pool right.--Keoke-- :laugh:

Keoke said:

I just wonder how the bearing get lubricated if the seal stop all the oil.??

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Keoke--

Perhaps you are kidding us here but in any case the bearings are splash-lubed by oil that passes out the axle tube and into the bearings via the space created by the dish-shape of the stub axle flange.

The lip seal on the inside of the hub is the only thing that keeps the oil in the hub and out of the brakes, etc. If the end of the axle stub is scored and corroded the seal will get chewed up with diff oil getting into the brakes, dripping down the wheel and tire and onto the floor.

The rear wheel bearings get lubricated by differential oil that's slung out by the spinning gears and axle. The flat stud plate on the axle--sealed by the O-ring and gasket--deflects the oil 180deg back into the bearing (IIRC, there is a concave cutout in the plate that helps reverse the oil flow, but I might be mistaken and I'm not gonna take an axle out to see :wink:. The oil seal seals what is effectively the 'backside' of the bearings, preventing oil from coming out on the outer axle housing and getting slung into the wheel well.

I believe there is a small 'dam' a few inches into the axle housing on both sides to retain some of the oil so the bearings don't start dry between runs.

Bob--

I believe the "dam" is there to minimize the amount of oil that gets slung out toward the end of the axle. There will always be oil in the hub because its diameter is bigger than that of the axle tube, which is why oil always drips out when the hub is pulled even if all the oil is drained out of the differential.

Makes sense. If I recall, there's a hole in the bottom of the dam--probably for drainback.