Stubborn Axle Seal

[martini]

Hey everyone,

So I'm in the middle of doing an axle swap on my 97 4x4 ranger. I blew out my other rear end (ill post THAT story in the appropriate forum later). I am wanting to change the axle seals on the donor rear end and have everything apart with the axles out but cant for the life of me get the axle seals out. I dont have a slide hammer and puller but have tried reefing them out with pliers and using a screwdriver as a prybar. should i just bite the bullet and go get a slide hammer or is there a trick im missing?

Thanks everyone!

 

[hondaxr650]

Your axle shafts make great seal removers. Hook the nub on the inner end of the axle in the seal and pry them suckers out.

 

[martini]

honda: thanks man, thats a great idea, I tried it but couldnt get enough onto er so i bit the bullet and bought a seal puller (it was cheap) so ill post more once the rain stops. ive been taking pics too so ill make a whole post about the swap when im done.

 

[HareRazor]

I changed wheel bearings on my old 90 bronco2 using a long piece of black pipe and ran it through the entire axle to the other side and pounding on it. I got the seals out no problem, but I spent a long time with the slide hammer trying to get the bearings unstuck. Pipe worked fast.

 

[adsm08]

I do lots of axle seals and pinion seals and I find seal pullers are hit or miss. If the seal puller manages to fail you (and given what you've already tried I suspect it will) take a hammer and a chisel and CAREFULLY go around the outside. Tap the chisel in LIGHTLY so that you distort the outer edge of the seal and crush it in without scoring the sealing surface of the axle tube. Once you have a good notch beaten into the seal start going around the outside and it will work to pry the seal out of place.

 

[MA Ranger]

I've used both a slide hammer with axle bearing/seal puller attachment and a small pry bar to pull axle seals from a '94 Ranger. The small pry bar was a little faster (about 30 seconds for each seal). Auto Zone rents slide hammers and axle bearing/seal pullers (cost of each item you rent is refunded when you bring the tools back).

 

[sloth69mustang]

i slide hammered all that stuff out.