pinion seal

i had really bad death wobble a few time the other day (tie rod end) and my front diff started leaking.

anyone know how to change the pinion seal on a dana 30?
ive never done it before and dont want to get in over my head.
i fixed the death wobble problem which originaly caused it but i think messed up the seal.

what year? if this is a high pinion Dana 30 its easy, remove the driveshaft, remove the pinion nut, and discard. Remove the yoke, then remove the seal. Install new seal using rtv around the edge to assure a good seal, install yoke, install new nut. install driveshaft.

If its a newer cherokee that low pinion you have a crush sleeve and that entirtles you to remove the pinion and replace the crush sleeve at the same time.

yea i have the low pinion. whats a crush sleeve? one i take the drive shaft off and take the nut out the yoke will just slide out right?

so the low pinion is harder?

yes. the high pinion uses depth shims to get the proper preload torque on the pinion bearings. (amount of torque it takes to roll the pinion by itself.) so you can only tighten the nut so much and the torque wont change, but in the low pinion they use a crush sleeve which as you tighten the pinion nut at a certain point it starts to crush and this give the proper preload torque on the pinion bearings. It is required to replace said sleeve every time that nut comes off.... so you need to remove the carrier (so you have to remove the axle shafts) and then pop out the pinion, put in a new sleeve and install. You also need a way to measure that preload which is in inch pounds and about 15 inch/pounds. the best way is to use an inch pound dial torque wrench which can be few and far between. Another way is to wrap a string around the narrow part of the pinion 4 or 5 times and pull on the pinion with a fish spring scale. Measure the preload prior to removing the pinion nut but without the carrier and then duplicating that number on the scale when installin. Sleeves can be a pain cause you dont want to over tighten it as bearings will fail prematurely so you have to be careful, often causing you to need one or two extras. they are cheap but its a pain in the ass to do.

well...........im glad i didnt just go for it without posting this tread.
but now im just afraid to mess with it. how much do you think a shop would charge?