Removing the Rear Axle Seal

[Jim_Gruber]

Guys any tips on removing the rear axle seal. I do not over a seal puller. This hub was doing same major leaking and there is all kinds of baked on crusty 90 W like tar on the inside. I got the bearing out but seal at least tonight is stuck. I placed the hub outside in a container of old gasoline to see if things could soften up overnight. Spring is out as well. But attempts with a thin screwdriver so far do nothing but tear up rubber. Gasolin should help to help me at least see where the seal ends on the inside and the hub begins.

 

[Jim_Gruber]

Guys, One Axle Seal Bites the dust. Could not find a seal puller tonight but while perusing tools I ran across this bad boy below. Vice Grip all in one Fence Pliers. Pliers, Hammer, Wire Cutter, and one Nasty Sharp Spike on the end of it. Perfect for digging into the axle seal and prying it up little by little until I was able to get a tiny bit of movement and space. Enough to flip the hub over and get a screw driver under the lip and with the assistance of my 5 lb persuader, one smack and the seal was out of there. I know I will find other uses for this cool tool.

Cleaned all of the rust up on the inside of the Hub with my trusty Dremel, cleaned all of the mating surfaces with Acetone and 000 Steel Wool, wiped everything down, masked all mating surfaces and gave it a shot of Gloss Black. Used Steel Wool on one of my EN17 Axles and smoothed everything out on the axle shaft, a bit rusty from sitting in the back of a too humid garage and it cleaned right up, smooth as butter. A little more Gloss Black on the end of the axle shaft, mating surfaces polished clean with Steel Wool this one will be ready to reassemble shortly. New 207FF Sealed Bearings will be installed along with new Axle Seals and that part of one side is almost finished.

That side was totally nasty with dried and crusty Diff Oil sitting on there like Roofing Tar. This one definitely needed to come apart for some R&R. Brakes on the LR Side were totally soaked after just a few weeks of being out and about in September and October. Glad I got this taken care of. Next up time to pull the other side.

PS a secret tip I think helped. I poured as small amount of Acetone around the axle seal and let it soak in for a few minutes. Acetone dissolves rust and I think that helps to break 57 years of associated crud under that axle seal loose.

View attachment 48443

 

[nomad]

OK Jim, get some wire, post's and staples and fence your yard!

 

[Jim_Gruber]

hey that's one really nice tool for that sort of work. Now that I bought a second tool chest I can expand my "Pliers Drawer" . Same with Standard and Phillips Screwdriver Drawers and my Sockets can actually be classified and sorted into 1/4", 3/8', and 1/2" Drives in different drawers Standard/Metric so I can actually find stuff when I need it. Old Tool chest is so overcrowded I can't find things or there is no room to put tools in there. Then I can't find it and I end up rebuying the tool all over again because it's easier to rebuy than hunting and hunting and hunting for that one special wrench you need.

 

[nomad]

It's my experience that no matter how much you organize, you can never find what your looking for!!