How to: Replace front/rear pinion seal

Original Poster: BRUTUS_T_HOG

Difficulty: 2 out of 10

Time to install: 30 MINUTES


Disclaimer: The Ranger Station.com, The Ranger Station.com Staff, nor the original poster are responsible for you doing this modification to your vehicle. By doing this modification and following this how-to you, the installer, take full responsibility if anything is damaged or messed up. If you have questions, feel free to PM the original poster or ask in the appropriate section of The Ranger Station.com forums.


Brief Explanation: With this guide you will learn how to replace a leaking pinion shaft seal on a front or rear axle.

This was done on a 2002 Ford Explorer 8.8 rear axle, the procedures are applicable to any RBV axle, and most others.


Tools Needed:
Basic tools
12mm (12point) wrench or socket
Large 2 jaw puller or steering wheel puller w/ long bolts
Paint marker or scribe
Impact gun(recommended)
Hammer and chisel
Seal puller
Seal drivers
Shop towels, rags, ect.
Drain pan


Parts Needed:
1 Pinion seal (get an extra one if you've never installed a lip seal before, you can always return the extra if you don't need it)
1 Speedy sleeve (just in case, you can also return this)
Gear oil, Trans/T-case fluid
1 can of Brake parts cleaner (recommended)



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Step 1: Mark the driveshaft's position in relation to the pinion flange, then remove the driveshaft using the 12mm wrench. You can use the parking brake or transmission to hold the shaft from turning. Its a good idea to have a pan underneath the transmission to catch any oil that spills out



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Step 2: Mark the pinion shaft, nut, and flange in relation to each other to reinstall in the same position. Then remove the pinion nut



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Step 3: Use the puller to remove the flange from the pinion shaft, its very important to have a tapered end when pushing on the pinion shaft or the threads will be mushroomed.



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Step 4: Set the flange aside and gently use the seal puller to remove the pinion seal. Its a good idea to have a pan underneath to catch any oil that spills out




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Step 4.5: Seal puller not working? Thats ok, you can use a chisel and hammer to collapse the seal inward. Catch the outer edge of the seal with the chisel and work your way around the seal until the seal puller can remove the seal or it simply falls out. Try your best not to damage the housing doing this.

Wipe the hole clean of debris



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Step 5: To drive the new seal in you'll need to use something that is roughly the same size as the outer lip of the seal, but doesn't smash the rubber lip, I used a large axle nut socket because it was within close reach and did the job perfectly.
Hold the seal straight in the bore and gently tap it in making sure it goes in straight, if it starts going very crooked start over. DO NOT try to straighten it by pounding on it

If you can't find something to drive the seal with you'll have to very very carefully drive it with a hammer in an alternating circular pattern, I don't recommend doing this unless you have to. After you've finished installing the seal get the lip wet with oil or grease to lubricate it





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Step 6: You're not done yet, you need to inspect the pinion flange. Wipe the flange clean and visually take a look at the sealing surface to check for a groove, if you see a deep grove gently pry off the dust seal and set it aside to be reused

If the sealing surface is ok skip to Step 8



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Step 7: I had a deep groove in the sealing surface so I used the speedy sleeve to fix it. Speedy sleeves come with their own driver and are installed in a similar manner to installing seals.

After you install the speedy sleeve re-install the dust seal, you can tap this back on







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Step 8: Time to reinstall the pinion flange, again do not forget to put the dust seal back on if you removed it. Line up the marks you made earlier and slip the flange onto the splines, install the nut and GENTLY tighten until the flange bottoms out(if using an impact gun, tighten only until the flange bottoms out and then stop)

After the flange bottoms out check the position of the nut, tighten the nut until the orignal marks line up. Now tighten the nut no more than 1/8th turn further




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Final: Reinstall the driveshaft, top off all fluids.

Clean up the mess and take pride in a job well done.. lol

Excellent write up!

I've never seen the speedy sleeve before, definitely good to know.

haha i've almost never seen one that didn't need to be sleeved, it saved the trouble of finding a new flange thats for sure.

you can get them for crankshaft hubs and other things too

Legal disclaimer so neither the poster or jim get sued when someone screws their truck up by not having common sense

gukleifo34 said:

Disclaimer: The Ranger Station.com, The Ranger Station.com Staff, nor the original poster are responsible for you doing this modification to your vehicle. By doing this modification and following this how-to you, the installer, take full responsibility if anything is damaged or messed up. If you have questions, feel free to PM the original poster or ask in the appropriate section of The Ranger Station.com forums.


website promotion

Click to expand...

I LOL'd

Added to online magazine. Thanks.

What speedy sleeve part number was used for this? I can't pull it apart to measure it. I can't have any down time on the truck right now.

t0x1k said:

What speedy sleeve part number was used for this? I can't pull it apart to measure it. I can't have any down time on the truck right now.

Click to expand...

sorry i did this write up at work and they ordered it so i don't know and the box is long gone.

you should be able to get one by axle size and year.

this axle was an explorer 8.8

How much fluid is lost when removing the pinion seal? I am finishing up replacing the spider and side gears, but need to replace the pinion seal as well. Unfortunately I don't have time to do it today and need to finish the other project and get the truck out of the shop before going on vacation for a week. If I fill the diff w/ fluid and do the pinion seal next week, how much fluid will I lose?

Thanks a ton Brutus. This is going to save my butt.

t0x1k said:

What speedy sleeve part number was used for this? I can't pull it apart to measure it. I can't have any down time on the truck right now.

Click to expand...

I know you asked a long time ago, but just for a future reference, it is TIMKEN Part# KWK99181. It's 20 dollars through Rock Auto currently.

I called Autozone, they had no clue what I was talking about when I asked for a speedy sleeve - even after I explained what it was. O'Reilly knew exactly what I meant and also had one, but they wanted 45 dollars for it. I got the seal (TIMKEN Part # 5778) and the Speedy Sleeve for 32 dollars shipped through Rock Auto.

steven083008 said:

How much fluid is lost when removing the pinion seal? I am finishing up replacing the spider and side gears, but need to replace the pinion seal as well. Unfortunately I don't have time to do it today and need to finish the other project and get the truck out of the shop before going on vacation for a week. If I fill the diff w/ fluid and do the pinion seal next week, how much fluid will I lose?

Click to expand...

Sorry I never got to this, you probably know by now that there is minimal fluid lost when changing the pinion seal. 1qt of fluid should cover anything that comes out.

shane96ranger said:

Thanks a ton Brutus. This is going to save my butt.



I know you asked a long time ago, but just for a future reference, it is TIMKEN Part# KWK99181. It's 20 dollars through Rock Auto currently.

I called Autozone, they had no clue what I was talking about when I asked for a speedy sleeve - even after I explained what it was. O'Reilly knew exactly what I meant and also had one, but they wanted 45 dollars for it. I got the seal (TIMKEN Part # 5778) and the Speedy Sleeve for 32 dollars shipped through Rock Auto.

Click to expand...

glad i could help.

Brutus,

When i reinstall the pinion nut, why do i want to go 1/8" past the alignment mark? Shouldn't you want to line it up exactly with the alignment mark?

atvkid4eva said:

Brutus,

When i reinstall the pinion nut, why do i want to go 1/8" past the alignment mark? Shouldn't you want to line it up exactly with the alignment mark?

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Because inside the axle on the pinion shaft there is a crush sleeve that holds preload on the bearings, technically you are supposed to replace this sleeve every time you remove and re install the pinion nut.

Once the crush sleeve is "crushed" the first time you torque down the pinion nut during a diff overhaul it is crushed forever so the next time you torque it down to that same torque it won't have as much preload. Thats why you turn the nut 1/8th turn more to crush the sleeve down a little more and regain that preload.

Just like a torque to yield head bolt, once it is torqued down that bolt stretches past the point where it will return to its original length which is its yield point and will never be able to torqued down again.

Make sense?

yep, makes sense. Thank you!

Has anyone ever encountered pinion yoke not wanting to fully seat after replacing pinion seal? I have hammered and used impact tool to put yoke back onto pinion shaft but i get to a point where there is about 1/8" gap between flange and diff housing and i cannot get it to move anymore.. Would pinion bearing (not pressed on bearing but 2nd bearing past crush sleeve) cause this to happen? How can i get around this so i can put back together? Any help would be very much appreciated.