Front axle seal on 2000 Grand Cherokee - $800?!

In article , wrote: #My dealer just quoted $800 to replace a leaking front axle seal on my #2000 GC V8. After nearly suffering a heart attack I grabbed the manual #to determine the level of effort and the only thing that scares me are #the "special tools" required, mainly the spreader used to spread the #case to get the differential out. Do I really need this spreader and #the subsequent tool to seat the 2 seals inside the case? I've ripped #older 4x4's apart and can't remember having anything so "special" to #get thing apart and back together.

The pumpkin speader is not the problem. It's just bar stock, nuts, bolts, and a turnbuckle.

The problem is not spreading the housing more than 1/2 mm as per the manual.

/herb

Hmmm.....

Well, when I do front axle seals I use a threaded rod and washers I put inside the axle tube to suck the seal into place rather than push the seal in with the 'special tool' like Bill's pdf states. I do the wrench turning out where the CV/U joint would be.

I am really not 100% sure, but I don't think I would have to take all the guts out of the pumpkin to do this. The book uses a push rod to set the seals which does require the guts to be taken all the way out.

Getting the hub out of the steering knuckle is usually the worst part. I have a sacrificial bolt I use to put half way back in and pound on to get the hub moving. It has 3 bolts that can be accessed easy when you cut the steering hard each way.

Mike

Seals have a seat. No matter what tool you use, if you don't seat them properly, they will leak. You don't put them in half way and figure you got them square by eye or hope you got them square, you bottom them to the seat.

Mike

philthy did pass the time by typing:

I'm thinking the local AutoZone/PepBoys type stores often have that tool in the rental bins. Worth a shot.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I made my own tool and I have done a bunch of them successfully.

The tool is a threaded rod with washers on it that I use to suck the seal into it's seat. That tool means I wouldn't have to have the complete guts out of the case so I likely wouldn't need the case spreader.

Mike

philthy wrote:

Ok, it seemed like the right way to do it at the time...

This works on both the locking hub and the vacuum lock and the solid axle Dana 30.

First you remove the diff cover.

Second you remove the axle (the hard part)

Third you remove the bearing caps.

Forth you pull the guts out. Oops, they don't fit because you have to expand the case so you just let them lay there in the bottom of the case.

Fifth you pop the old seals out with a bar inserted from the outside end.

(At about this point I clean everything and even use my threaded rod to push a rag through the tube to clean it like cleaning a gun barrel.)

Sixth you insert a threaded rod from the outside into the axle tube with a bar that covers/crosses the opening and a nut.

Seventh you slide the greased seal onto the threaded rod inside the housing.

Eighth you put a washer the size of the seal onto the rod, then add a nut.

And last you tighten the nut on the outside end of the threaded rod sucking the seal into it's seat.

Then reassemble. If using RTV as a gasket the surfaces must be perfectly clean. I think it is best to let the RTV cure for the 24 hours it calls for before adding fluid.

I have personally done a bunch of these with perfect success. So has Seppster from this group.

Gee did we just invent a way to burn the $tealer techs out of $800.00? I SURE hope so! LOL!!!!

Mike

philthy wrote:

Oh, I also have never needed a case spreader, the older carriers come out with no problem.

Mike

Mike Roma>

Well, they are up the tube a little Bill or in the ends of the tube like he mentions, just the inside end.... I had to think about that wording too....

Mike

"L.W.(Bill) Hughes III" wrote: