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D30 innner seals, DIY or pay a mechanic?

L

Leica99XJ

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Florida
My '99 XJ front axle needs the inner seals replaced since I have a pretty good leak out of the passenger side. I'm a mechanically inclined person and do lots of my own work, but don't have all the needed tools. I could buy the tools I need, but then there's always the issue of not getting the seals in JUST RIGHT and having them leak again and having to do it all over which would really suck.

I got a quote of $300 to do both seals from a local shop called "Jeepsters" that only works on Jeeps. Obviously they have more experience doing this job, and even if they do mess it up, they would have to fix it.

Am I overestimating this job? I keep hearing it's really easy to mess up the seal if you don't get it in perfectly, and I kind of feel like I'd rather just pay the money and get it done right the first time then spend a day doing it only to end up spending another day or more doing it all over until I get it right. :(
 
There is someone that sells a seal that goes on the outside of the axle tube. I can't remember where I seen it but there is one. You have to pull the axle, take the dust shield off the axle and put the seal in the end of the axle tube. It would be a fairly easy job if you can find the seal. BTW, the seals cost more.....but not $300.
 
the powdercoated red ones? quadratec has them i think

does anyone know if theyll work with a vac disco?
 
Those outer seals will keep shiite out of your tubes, but won't do anything to keep your diff full of clean, healthy fluid. There's a great write up on GoJeep about replacing seals. I've not done it myself yet, but it's coming soon.

It seems that the concensus is that improvising the tools to do the job correctly is the most important and possibly most frustrating part.

Pulling your hubs for the first time can be a trip, but after I spent a few hours on my first one, the next one was out in 10 minutes.
 
Jed said:
There is someone that sells a seal that goes on the outside of the axle tube. I can't remember where I seen it but there is one. You have to pull the axle, take the dust shield off the axle and put the seal in the end of the axle tube. It would be a fairly easy job if you can find the seal. BTW, the seals cost more.....but not $300.
Click to expand...

That's irrelevant, really. I need to replace the INNER seals, those are OUTER seals. The inner seals hold the fluid in the differential, those aftermarket outer seals just help to keep crud out of the axle housing that could damage the inner seal and cause premature failure. I don't do any offroading (yet) so the outer seals would just be a waste of money at this point.

The inner seals cost only a few bucks, the $300 is 90% labor, obviously. I'm just trying to decide on if I should buy some tools and do the labor myself or pay someone else to do it.

anodyne33 said:
Pulling your hubs for the first time can be a trip, but after I spent a few hours on my first one, the next one was out in 10 minutes.
Click to expand...

Oh, I'm not worried about pulling the hubs, the only thing I'm worried about is getting those seals in perfect so I don't have to do it again. After doing some research, there are different schools of thought on what type of tool should be used to seat the seals properly.....Any advice on this?
 
I had my inner axle seals replaced last year and it cost me around $400. The mechanic replaced both inner axle seals and I even had a pinion seal leak that he also replaced. I dropped off the vehicle at 8:00 in the morning and it was finished by mid-afternoon. It was money well spent in my opinion.
 
I have to do my inner seals. Broke a passenger side D30 axle shaft and it was flopping around in the tube for awhile until I got a replacement. It screwed the seal.

Now everytime I fill the diff I have a nice puddle under my passenger front tire. I gotta replace the seals soon.....I have them, just haven't pulled the carrier.

I've heard you need a case spreader. But then I heard you didn't; just a big pry bar and the like.

Not sure. I have to do balljoints too so I assume it would be a great time to do everything while the shafts and hubs were out.

But with only one vehicle and school starting next week it makes it difficult to find time to do all of this.

Maybe spring break? Damn that's far away.
 
Blaine B. said:
But with only one vehicle and school starting next week it makes it difficult to find time to do all of this.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's another thing is time. Time is precious, especially when you have a newborn baby. :) After talking to my wife, she would rather have someone else do it than have me spending another day or more working on one of the vehicles. I've already spent a lot of time cleaning it up and getting maintenance up to date because I just bought it. Looks like I'll be sourcing out this job though.
 
400 ... damn thats all labor ... the seals are only like 20 bucks a pop
 
Someone had posted a link for a differential tool from CompleteOffroad.com that presses the seals in place which I bought, I think it was on here or Jeepin, not sure. Anyway, I bought it for like 60 bucks and the cost of the seals, diff gasket and fluid came out to about 85 or 90 bucks and honestly, if I wasn't taking my sweet a$$ time I could have done it in 2.5 or 3 hours. It's really not to bad. It set the seals in perfectly, the thing to watch out for is when you put the axle back in the tube make sure you don't hit the back of the newly installed seal and damage it, try to line it up as best as possible. The most time consuming part of the install will be removing the hubs in my opinion. I put the axle tube seals on also at this time, if your considering them now is the time to do it or have the shop do it. Good luck!
 
I've done this before and I will never do it again without a hoist.

That said, the 'special' tools and skills you need are minimal: a large socket for the axle nut and something to set the seals (see homebrew devices on web).

Basically take it all apart, including the ring + carrier, pop seals out, new ones in, put it all back.
 
Actually the carrier came out reasonably easy, getting the axels shafts out was where the real work was.
 
If the seals are the same as on a '95, setting the seals is easy. Once the axles and carrier have been removed, all I did was use a 6' piece of 3/4" pipe I had and a socket to set the seals. The pipe is small enough to fit in the opening of the seal so it can be used to reach through from the outside of the oppposite axle. (It takes 2 people, 1 to hold the socket/pipe in place inside the carrier area and the other to tap the pipe end that extends out through the diff case)
 
elguapo22 said:
That said, the 'special' tools and skills you need are minimal: a large socket for the axle nut and something to set the seals (see homebrew devices on web).
Click to expand...

I would have to get a good torque wrench too, since I don't have one. :(
 
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