Well guys its been a while since I made a new thread so here goes! As some of you are aware I've changed both axles on my car within the last couple of months..so I decided to change the seal on the passenger side since I was gonna be down there anyway, well the first time; I just used my 36mm socket to bang it in even though there's like no clearance at all and it went in but not straight so it leaked a lil drop or 2 a night which wasnt hurthing at all (the floor was slightly wet but not to an extreme) so I got greedy cuz it wasnt perfect and got another seal and this time I got a seal driver to do the job right and its worse now...

What the hell can I do to put that seal in? there's no room cuz of the manifold and that engine support thing. It leaks about 1/2 quart every night and I have to keep adding tranny fluid right when I had everything going the way I wanted maintenance-wise the seal get worse.

Anyone with similar problems with good solutions?

Thanks In Advanced

 

Put it in the freezer for a while. It will shrink slightly, and you can tap it with a rubber mallet.

 

Thanks for the tip, think I'm just gonna buy a new one to do that with hopefully it'll work. What about the metal part though? thats the part that I'm having trouble with, will that shrink?

 

Isn't the metal part you're referring to a spring? It should contract a little as well.

 

could they have given you the slighty wrong seal(5-sp. or ve)

 

Possible, but they are always this hard to put in, so no surprise here..

Do you have the axle out while your trying to do this? I've never used that special seal tool, but what I did was try to freeze it overnight(didn't help much but what ever), lubed the seal up, grabbed a block of wood and went to town. How I got it in, nobody knows

 

[qoute}grabbed my block of wood and went to town. How I got it in, nobody knows [/QUOTE]

i think i used to know that girl

 

Haha you guys are hilarious! but I doubt Brian would give me the wrong part so theres something I'm doing wrong. Yes the axle is out along with the knuckle. Either way how do you guys manage with that lil space? I'm not a fat *** or anything but I'm just having trouble.. perhaps someone is willing to trade labor for beer I'll take everything out and you just put the seal in and I do the rest Anyone up for it?

 

not exactly the right way to do it...but line up a big (huge) socket or a steel pipe that's the size of the outter seal area. line it up and tap it in. make sure you're no where near the center and the center lip area.

 

You need to make a tool. Go to Home Depot and a PVC pipe end plug that fits exactly over the seal (bring seal with you). Now buy a closet dowel rod and drive a drywall screw through the center of the PVC plug into the end of the dowel rod. So now you have the PVC pipe end plug connected to the end of the dowel rod. You will use the PVC end plug side to drive the seal, and you will tap the dowel rod end with a hammer. The dowel rod will actually pass through the bracket for the bearing on the passenger side axle shaft. This normally is where the clearance problem is when driving that seal. You will have to measure and cut the dowel rod for the best possible clearance. Go slow and make sure the seal is lined up straight and tap lightly with the mallet. Like others have said, it is better to shrink the seal by freezing it, and I use a little Vasoline around the seal for lubrication. Good Luck.

 

Glad to see you made it back in one piece, lol. But yeah I don't remember if i mentioned it on Saturday night but the wooden block worked best for me its just tricky to make sure the edges all go in evenly.

 

Well, I tried an oversized socked and it didnt work for me, I also tried a seal driver which is specifically for that job and it didnt work do to the space available. guess me next option is to freeze it and use a block of wood. I think I'll try that before I go buy PVC and closet accessories

thanks for the suggestions guys

 

Would lubing the seal with ATF or something help?? just a thought... Ive never changed these seals, Ive changed the axles many times, but never removed the seals...

 

haha, man that seal was super moistened with tranny fluid, I even tried general purpose grease.

On another note my girlfriends father asked me how my motor mounts were and well they're not in good condition and he told me that could be one factor why it leaks other than there being a tear. Anyone know about this?

 

Well guys, got my problem solved..Didn't freeze anything nor did I use a block of wood or PVC with some closet stuff. I appreciate all the suggestions that all you guys made. So today picked my g/fs dad and then stopped by Brians to pick up my 3rd axle seal..got home and realized my jack was gone (wtf) guess it my jack got jacked..so we had to use regular lil jack took ball joint nut out pulled the knuckle and the axle out. So he brought this big socket thats used for a tie rod and it fit perfect on the seal so we used that along with a 10", 6" and two 2" extensions all together, he held the socket in place while I hammered it from the outside. Got the seal in perfectly without messing it up and not leaking a bit.

Mission Accomplished after 3 attempts

 

see..told you a big socket would work.

 

Didn't work for me

 

hmmm...use bigger hammer or bigger socket?

 

Need some pointers? <--->

 

I remember trying the 36mm that I had used to get the hub off.. It seemed like it was gonna work, but there just wasn't any room to bang in there, and I guess I didn't try enough. I gave that up after a few attempts and had somebody aim a long block of wood over the seal, while I knocked it in from the outside little by little.

 

Yea thats what I used the first time too, the 36mm was so big it took up hammering space, but since we used one half the size of that and wider meant to be used on tierods, it worked out perfectly, especially cuz he held it in place while I hammered it in