hi anyone, know what work is involved with replacing the front axle Main Pinion Seal? Big job or not?

 

Obviously you need to remove your front driveshaft.

The tricky part is marking the position of the nut so you set it back to the correct backlash/pre load setting.

I would use a punch and mark the pinion, the nut, and the flange. 32mm on an impact to remove the nut, gear puller to remove flange.

Replace seal, note the depth before removing.

Install flange with punch marks lined up. Slowly start to impact on nut until lined up with marks. If you mess this part up the pinion will ride to far out on the ring gear and you will need to disassemble the dif and replace the crush sleeve.

 

I don't think I've heard of re-using the crush sleeve before but it would definitely be worth trying rather than a full tear down.

 

I've heard of reusing them on a rebuild.

measure the length, Crush the accordion sides so the sleeve lengthens, re use.

For the cost it's better to buy new.

In the case of the seal only, the idea is to get just at the crush sleeve and maybe a degree more to cinch it up.