Dana 35 Axle Seal Leaking

I received an unwelcome surprise this weekend while doing my rear brakes. The inside of my driver's side drum was completely slathered in gear oil. There was also a lovely cake of oily muck against the outside of the backing plate, too. Delicious.

I need to replace the shaft seal ASAP before I muck up my new brake shoes with oil. Does it make any sense to replace just the seal without doing the bearing? I'm trying to make this as painless as axle work can be. This will be my most intense project on the Jeep to date, and I'd rather not get into pulling bearings since I don't have the tools, although I could probably borrow them. Can I keep this simple and be ok, or am I wasting my time since I'll have to take it apart again anyway?

It's a 2000 w/ABS.

And don't say swap the axle for something better! I don't have time right now. Just want to git 'er done.

I should add the Jeep has 116k miles. Should I replace the bearings while I have everything apart? I understand I'll need to take them to a shop to be pressed on, correct?

Tuckman1941 said:

I should add the Jeep has 116k miles. Should I replace the bearings while I have everything apart? I understand I'll need to take them to a shop to be pressed on, correct?

Click to expand...

No-Not on a 2000 XJ,Pull axle shaft ,pull seal,pull bearing-replace in reverse order.

Wayne

Got 'er done this weekend with minimal cursing, other than trying to get the new seals back in. The ones I bought were a bit of a PITA. I used a short length of 1.5" PVC with end caps on it to install the bearings and seals. DO NOT hit PVC caps with a BFG because they will explode like a fragmentation grenade. :explosion Glad I wasn't looking at it at the time.