Axle seal replacement in Dana 30

2001 XJ, AW4, I6 - 4.0 4WD
How hard is it to change axle seals in a front Dana 30? At the moment I am in the process of replacing my ball joints (first time doing this) and in doing so found out that my driver side tube is heavily coated in oil. I don't have an axle spreader and I'm afraid of screwing up the shims / bearings and gear lashing etc. If I get the diff out will the shims and bearings fall off in the process? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

There is a shim on both sides of the carrier along with the diff side bearings. Dont mix them up.. You should be ok. I would recommend a spreader to help. Also having the correct axle seal installer helps alot ..

It's fairly straight forward. I used a 36mm socket from memory on a long extension down the tube to knock the seals out and the new ones in. You don't need a spreader. Just leaver the diff out and thump it back in with a large dead blow hamer. The shims are under the bearings so you don't have to worry about them. If you ever have an ARB locker then you need a spreader.

Was really easy, actually.

We used a long solid rod and the appropriate sized large socket to beat the seals in evenly. You need to have a long enough rod to go all the way through the axle tubes. If you have the right tools it shouldn't take but a few minutes.

The part that took the most time was cleaning out the diff and tubes so they were spotless again.

If yours is the original (like mine was) may have become stuck to the point where the 36mm socket and extension trick won't work. I had to build a tool that would both remove and seat the new seal. Spent $9.00 at Home Depot.

Tool consists of:

1 - 36" 5/8 threaded rod
3 - 5/8 nuts
2 - 5/8 washers
1 - 3/4 washer

After you've removed both axles and carrier, run the threaded rod with the 5/8 washer sandwiched between the two 5/8 nuts. Tighten the nuts to keep the washer centered. Now take the other 5/8 washer and 3/4 washer and place them on the outside of the opposing axle tube. Thread on the 5/8 nut and start turning. By tightening the nut, it will pop the old seal out.

If you'd like to see a picture of this contraption, let me know.

Jim

I do lol sounds intriguing

Tryfan said:

2001 XJ, AW4, I6 - 4.0 4WD
How hard is it to change axle seals in a front Dana 30? At the moment I am in the process of replacing my ball joints (first time doing this) and in doing so found out that my driver side tube is heavily coated in oil. I don't have an axle spreader and I'm afraid of screwing up the shims / bearings and gear lashing etc. If I get the diff out will the shims and bearings fall off in the process? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Click to expand...

Axle tube heavily coated in oil, but the real question was there a visible leak, puddle of oil on top of the lower ball joint? If you haven't been seeing any oil leaking out I wouldn't even bother with replacing the seals.

You dont need anything fancy at all. Take one of the replacement seals to Home Depot or somewhere and buy a piece of PVC plastic with a small enough diameter to fit inside. To remove the old seal, insert the PVC into the tube from the knuckle side and set it against the edge of the old seal, and smack it with a hammer. To put the new seal in, put the PVC into the 36mm socket you used to remove the hub nut, and pound the new seals in. Since the PVC will be small enough to fit through the hole in the seal, you can use the same "tool" for both axle tubes.

You dont need anything fancy at all. Take one of the replacement seals to Home Depot or somewhere and buy a piece of PVC plastic with a small enough diameter to fit inside. To remove the old seal, insert the PVC into the tube from the knuckle side and set it against the edge of the old seal, and smack it with a hammer. To put the new seal in, put the PVC into the 36mm socket you used to remove the hub nut, and pound the new seals in. Since the PVC will be small enough to fit through the hole in the seal, you can use the same "tool" for both axle tubes.

ehall said:

You dont need anything fancy at all. Take one of the replacement seals to Home Depot or somewhere and buy a piece of PVC plastic with a small enough diameter to fit inside. To remove the old seal, insert the PVC into the tube from the knuckle side and set it against the edge of the old seal, and smack it with a hammer. To put the new seal in, put the PVC into the 36mm socket you used to remove the hub nut, and pound the new seals in. Since the PVC will be small enough to fit through the hole in the seal, you can use the same "tool" for both axle tubes.

Click to expand...

I tried to make the PCV tool and it literally shattered into a hundred pieces inside of my axle tube. It took an hour to get all of the shards out. The tool I made allowed me to remove anf seat the new seals (evenly) in about 20 minutes.

Will I need to reset the gear lash etc if I'm just replacing the axle seals? Will removing the diff upset shims and preloads?

nope. Make sure to keep each bearing cup with the side of the differential that it came from, because that does matter. The shims on a stock d30 are between the bearing cones and the diff carrier, and the cones are pressed on, so if that falls apart, you have other issues to worry about, like why your bearings were so badly screwed up. Preload depends on the shims as well. The only way to screw it up is to get the bearing cups switched side to side when reassembling, which is why you should put a dot of paint or something on one of them when you pull the diff out, because they like to fall on the ground and roll around when you pull it all apart. Either a second set of hands or an ink/paint dot will help you keep that from confusing you. Make sure to clean them well before reassembling if you do drop them.

Actually, a second set of hands will help out a bit when putting the seals in anyways, it helps to have someone manning the hammer and the other person guiding the end of the stick and the large socket to keep the seal going straight. Last time I did seals we used a broomstick, a piece of PVC definitely wouldn't have done the job.

Here's the tool that I had made. Cost me $9.00 including tax.



If you want to remove the seal, slide the assembly through the opposing axle tube, through the differential housing and through the seal (without the washer of course) and then slide the 3/4" washer on and begin turning the nut. The pressure will pop the old stuck seal out in about 20 seconds.





When you want to seat the new seal evenly, replace the 5/8 washer that's sandwiched between the two nuts with something like this. I made this little attachment out of a 2.25" piece of exhaust tube and a crudely welded 5/8" washer. This will fit perfectly in the inside of the seal. You basically reverse the process to press the new seal. By tightening the outside 3/4" washer/Nut combination it'll seat the new seal evenly within the housing. NO MORE BENT SEALS!!!

Jim

My recently acquired 89 has bad front axle U-joints. Also looks like a bad axle bearing in the axle housing, passenger side? Too much play in the shaft side to side.

This is my first front axle repair, so I need some advise. First, is the Dana 30 the only front axle used in 89? Mine is NON-ABS, stock. What U-joints should I buy? seals, bearings, tools?

It drives fine. We noticed the bad parts replacing the brake rotors and pads.

It's best to measure the u-joint cap diameter before buying, yours SHOULD have a 5-260x type ujoint but if someone replaced the shafts with the 5-760x joint style ones before you got it, it won't help you much to buy 260s. 260s measure 1 1/16" diameter on the caps, 760s measure 1 3/16".

The 30 is the only front used in the XJ in all years, except 2wd models and some export models that got 44s, those are very rare and AFAIK only in south american XJs though.

Seals - vacuum disconnect or non disconnect housing? I know nothing about the disconnect housing, but the vacuum disconnect one is simple, same seal on both sides, should be on rockauto for a few bucks each.

Wheel bearings - Timken only if you want them to last. Your year/model info should pull the right part number on up RockAuto.

The wheel bearings seem to be fine. This was a family XJ, all OEM near as I can tell.

I don't know that it has a disconnect? Did OEM all include a disconnect? I would say no disco from what I have seen.

I know it is not a 242 transfer case, it is a 231.

Is it likely the shaft is OK, and it just needs an inner bearing on the passenger side where I see side to side play in the shaft-housing? It still drives quite, so I have high hopes I got to it soon enough?

My only problem with rock auto is part description questions that I still have, and too many choices, LOL!

I'd expect the shafts to be fine. Make sure when you reinstall them you don't beat up the seals - they have a metal cone to help guide them, so just keep the splined end from touching the inside of the axle tube before it reaches them and it should be fine.

You can tell if you have a vacuum disconnect by whether the passenger side upper control arm mount is a cast section with a square plate and a vacuum solenoid or it is a pressed sheetmetal mount that is open on the front.

Non vacuum disconnect: http://www.bc4x4.com/pv/tj/ra/img_m/w4-046-fD30rD44.jpg
Vacuum disconnect: http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1/usbombs64/Dan30Vaccumdisco.jpg (and another one: http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa458/DualPurposeXJ/2012-01-28_16-21-58_944.jpg )

For a non disconnect housing, it's fairly simple, you pull the 3 bolts holding each unit bearing in (12 point 13mm) separate the bearings from the knuckle (use the power steering + socket trick) and slide the shafts out, take the diff cover off (easiest if you drop the tie rod at the driver end to get it out of your way) and remove the carrier. Make sure to take note of which end of which bearing cap goes where, they cannot be put on upside down or switched side for side or you will have bearing issues. Also make sure you keep each bearing cup with the correct side of the differential - sometimes they're prestamped with letters or dots from the factory to keep them straight, sometimes they aren't and you will need to (or put paint dots on, if you aren't comfortable using a punch on differential parts.) Don't drop any of the parts on the ground, either... carrier is a bit heavy if you're not expecting it to pop out when it does.

Once that's all out and set aside, the seals are just outward from each carrier bearing seat. Drive each one inward with a broomstick and a BFH, discard. Then use the broomstick+socket method (or any other method, if you prefer the others - a few have been gone over in this thread) to install the new seals. A second set of hands is really nice to have right about at this point.

Once the seals are in, prelube their lips with a dab of gear lube, then reinstall the carrier and bearing cups. The easiest way is to set the carrier (facing the right way... sucks to get everything ready and lift it up and realize it's facing the wrong way) in front of you on a sheet of cardboard, resting on the ring gear edge, then take each bearing cup in one hand and put them over the rollers/cones that are on the ends of the carrier - make sure each goes with the side it came off of. Then lift the whole thing by the bearings and carefully line it up with the bearing seats in the housing. It may just slide in (if the bearings are pretty badly worn) or it may require a little work with a rubber mallet or orange plastic deadblow to go in. This is another of those times it's helpful to have extra hands, keeping the bearings lined up with the seats while bashing it in can be a bit annoying. Once it's in, hold it there with one hand and grab one of the bearing caps. Put it back in the same spot and orientation it came from, hand start the bolts, then do the same on the other side. Once it's hand snugged on each side and seated correctly / meshed with the pinion, get out your torque wrench and torque the bearing cap bolts to 45 foot pounds each.

Vacuum disconnect style: driver side is the same, I have no idea how to work on the passenger side though. It's got a funky setup.

Parts for non disconnect:
seals - 2 of SKF part number 11899

Parts for disconnect:
mystery shit I don't understand

I'm not sure what bearing you are referring to - shaft housing? que?

I must be blind, I do not see the difference in those axles, where is the disconnect?

Thanks for the detailed how to info!!!!

Yes, I am asking about what I think is called an inner axle shaft (passenger side in the axle housing) bearing.

It is hard to match drawing part names to online part descriptions, so far I have looked at Rock auto and 4wd.com/cherokee

With a spreader it still seems you need to pry it out and hammer it back in according to the instructions in this link below:

http://www.ringpinion.com/Content/ProductInstructions/Housing Spreader.pdf

See the last paragraph step 3. I'm not sure would the spreader really help

EcoMike....the axle disco will be obvious if you see a fat "sleeve" on the passenger side of the axle tube with vacuume lines running to it. If you have the 231, you probably have the two-piece passenger side axle. The 242's of that vintage (like mine) did not have the disco axle.