Axle seal replacement in Dana 30

[Ecomike]

Ah Ha, I see now what was bugging me, I was looking at a tear down of a disco D-30, not a non disco, and the passenger side has an inboard and outboard bearing on each side of the disco!!! I need to find a tear down sheet for a non disco, if that is what I have.

 

[Flyfisher]

Ecomike...non-disco only has axle bearings at the differential. Other end is in the unit bearing at the wheel end.

 

[souske]

I always throw the new ones in the freezer overnight beforehand

every little bit helps

 

[Ecomike]

OK, I crawled all over the beast, no sign of vacuum line, Vac-solenoid, or disconnect on the axle, so mine is definitely non-disco!

 

[Ecomike]

Ecomike...non-disco only has axle bearings at the differential. Other end is in the unit bearing at the wheel end.

So if the u-joint is REALLLLY loose (and mine is on the passenger side), would the bearing being so far away, allow the axle to look sloppy, loose like a bad bearing, when it in fact the bearing may be OK, and it just looks worn because it so far down the axle tube?

 

[kastein]

The carrier bearing doesn't even touch the axleshaft, so I'd bet on your ujoint being bad and that being the only issue.

 

[Ecomike]

Ecomike...non-disco only has axle bearings at the differential. Other end is in the unit bearing at the wheel end.

Is the "unit bearing" (front hub assy?) on the outboard side of the U-joint? Is there an inner and outer wheel bearing in that housing (front hub assy?).

 

[Ecomike]

The carrier bearing doesn't even touch the axleshaft, so I'd bet on your ujoint being bad and that being the only issue.

OK, I see the carrier bearing in the sketch-parts drawing now. Starting to make more sense to me now. I still need to find a non-disco drawing-parts list.

So let's see if I have this right, if the u-Joint is removed, I should be able to move the axle shaft side to side in the housing some yes?

 

[Flyfisher]

yes, the axle is much smaller than the housing. rests in the differential, goes through a seal, then into the unit bearing at the wheel. Unsupported the remainder of the way.

 

[Flyfisher]

think of it this way, if you remove the unit bearing from the knuckle, you could slide the axle and unit bearing out of the axle shaft as a unit.

 

[Ecomike]

think of it this way, if you remove the unit bearing from the knuckle, you could slide the axle and unit bearing out of the axle shaft as a unit.

I think you have some typos in that?

 

[Ecomike]

yes, the axle is much smaller than the housing. rests in the differential, goes through a seal, then into the unit bearing at the wheel. Unsupported the remainder of the way.

Thanks!

 

[Ecomike]

Fricknfrack, It was rusty as hell, and not easy to see or measure the cap radius while installed, but I came back with a 1-1/8" measurement +/- 1/16" which I wa sure would be goodenough, but which it turns out, is no damn help now that I am back home reading this!!!!!!!1 and seeing the two options are +/- 1/16" from what I measured!!!!!:rattle:It is all Bimmer's fault!!! LMAO! JK.

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.

 

[Ecomike]

Since the shaft seals are not leaking, do I need to replace them, or can I just replace the U-joints? Will I need to pull the axles out to replace the u-joints?

 

[Ecomike]

Is there some reason I must replace the seals while replacing the u-joints, or it is just a good idea to do it while in there? Do I need to pull the inboard axle shafts out to replace the u-joints?

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?

 

[kastein]

No, there is no reason you have to replace the seals if they are not leaking... not sure why there would be. Just be careful reinstalling the shafts so you don't give yourself a reason to replace the seals soon afterwards.

 

[Ecomike]

Thanks!

Must I remove the shafts to replace the u-joints? If not is there a huge advantage to pulling them to swap the u-joints? Do you pull the shaft to avoid damaging the seal while changing the u-joint?

No, there is no reason you have to replace the seals if they are not leaking... not sure why there would be. Just be careful reinstalling the shafts so you don't give yourself a reason to replace the seals soon afterwards.

 

[kastein]

Yeah you have to pull em. There's literally no way to get a new ujoint into the knuckle given the space available.

Here's a video on my favorite way to install ujoints:

 

[Ecomike]

OK, so I must pull the axles. Got that. Nice video!!!

Do I need to pull the diffy cover for axcess to help remove the axles in such a way as to not damage the shaft seals? Sounds like you are hinting in that direction, but not sure?

Or is it just the install direction that is tricky?

 

[kastein]

You shouldn't need to - you can pull and replace the axleshafts (except the intermediate shaft on the passenger side of a vac disco 30 - which you don't have to remove to do ujoints) on a d30 without removing any c-clips or anything. The trick to reinstalling axleshafts without munging up the seals is to put your hand inside the steering knuckles and support the shaft as you feed it into the axle tube, don't let it touch the inside of the tube and pick up grime/dirt that collects in there as that will screw up the seal. The seals have a metal funnel sort of thing built into them that makes it quite easy to actually get the shaft into the seal without damage, you just have to be gentle and keep the shaft from landing in the grimy axle tube before it gets to the seal.