cv axle seal replacement
 

any one replaced a driver's side cv axle seal? the hayne's book says the driver side axle may not be able to be pried out, requiring the removal of the passenger side cv axle and putting a screw driver in and hammering the left axle out. I dont want to take both off if i dont have to. is there a trick to it or should i just start the job and see what happens?

A crowbar will be your friend.

I just replaced both of mine with Raxles HD axels and it wasnt difficult at all. I was also doing breaks and control arms though so I had plenty of room

what size socket or pipe did you use to seat the seals?

Im not sure I know what you are referring to. The metal seal towards the end? Mine went in fairly simple, didnt even need to use a mallet

The Haynes manual shows a seal in the auto transaxle that must be taken out and replaced.

Also, replacement axles require that i know if mine has locking differential and antilock brakes. how do i determine if i have a locking differential? I can look for the sensor ring to determine if i have ABS, correct?

If im thinking of the same seal you are then the new axle should come with one otherwise you just knock it off, trying not to bend it, and put it on the new one. Check the stickies it will tell you everything but unless yours is canadian or an Infinity I30 then you DO NOT have locking diff but you likely DO NOT have ABS either. Go out and look under the master cylinder. If there is an actuator then you have ABS: THis:
http://boredmder.com/pics/maxima.org...r-location.png

Thats all the spoon feeding from me. Look in the FAQS and stickies and you will find everything there is to know. GL

Is he talking about that clip? The new axle should come with one.

nope. not the clip. there is a seal inside the transaxle housing that the cv axle slides thru. this is what is leaking.

I scanned the picture out of the haynes manual. how do i insert it into this thread?

apparently i am not allowed to post attachments..:mad:

Get a Photobucket account, upload the picture and post the IMG code here.

http://s1248.photobucket.com/albums/...t=853c9490.jpg

i know its sideways (sorry) but look at the bottom of the image. it shows the seal installation i am talking about. and the sticky only shows how to replace the boot, not the seal that goes in the tranny. appreciate the spoon feeding tho.. :-)

Oh boy ..... lol, I guess you need someone to hold your hand through this one huh? :laugh:


The picture in your HM is showing the shift rod selector seal ...... you have an auto or 5mt? WTF ?????


The axle seal is made of a rubber and metal mix. The metal ring slides right into the trans case. You don't need to force it in there, but if it's stiff, spin the 36mm socket around, place a board over the open end (now facing you) and LIGHTLY tap it with a mallet to seat it. It's really an easy thing to do .... for most peeps.

parts on order.

1 cv axle. while i have the old one out, might as well replace it.
1 output shaft seal.

1 seal remover tool.

80 bucks all in. will try to complete this saturday and let you know how i make out.

Image 3.4 in the scan shows the output shaft seal.

correct. picture at the bottom of the image.

My apologies ... I was lookin at the wrong picture - as you might have guessed. hehehehehe


Goliath, where are you getting the axle? Raxles I hope ... Raxles FTW!!!! The seal puller tool ..... just use a screw driver, don't install the new one with a screw driver tho.


Sometimes .... I let people know I'm an idiot, but mostly, I try to hide it. :hide:

UPDATE:
I replaced both CV axles and seals. Driver side had torn boot, passenger side was leaking fluid from seal in transmission. Oddly enough, the seals I removed from both sides of tranny were exactly the same dimensions, I.D. and O.D. and width. But the O.D. of the shafts are different. Looking for replacement seals i noticed that the I.D. of the left and right seals specs are different. Passenger side is slightly smaller, matching what i measured on the respective shafts. No wonder the passenger side was leaking fluid. I guess the previous owner had the passenger seal and/or cv axle replaced and the mechanic used the wrong seal. Its the only explanation i can come to.

Another PITA was that the passenger axle fits into a carrier that holds the carrier bearing in the cv axle. I had to hammer on the cv axle end to get the axle carrier bearing into the carrier opening. It is a tight fit. then i realized that the bolt holes did not line up and i could not remove the axle. There was nothing i could pry on or push to get the axle out. Must be a trick to it. So I had to hammer on the ears of the carrier bearing to spin it around so that the bolt holes lined up. If i had been thinking clearly, i would have aligned the axle carrier bearing bolt holes with the actual carrier while installing. this would have made the adjustment easier.

Regardless, both sides are in perfect shape and no more leaks. thx guys for your guidance and help.

Did you not just pull the carrier asmbly down for the ps? It's only 3 - 14mm bolts .... not that hard to reach even. :confused: Sounds like you did it the hard way, but none the less, it's done. :) Good job .... hope they hold up nicely for ya for a while!

Where did you get the axles from?

oh well, i didnt see where the carrier could be removed easily. i did look at that. anyway, all is well. no more leaks.

when you put the seals in the transmission housing, how far did you tap them in. I just replaced mine for the second time and they are still leaking. do they need to be tapped in until they are all the way in?

you should feel no lip of the seal beyond the transmission case, it should not stick out at all. If i recall, the fully seated seal is pretty flush with the transmission case. for the driver side, i used a small punch to ensure it was flush. on the passenger side, i got a flat pry bar in there and just gently pushed on the seal while leveraging on the underside from below until it was all seated flush with the transmission case.

btw, the left and right seals have a different ID.

I replaced both of my axles and the seals last week. The seals were a pita, they did not want to go in all the way. I have never had seals this difficult.

But what goliath says is true, you have to get the seal flush with the differential case. The last 1/8 or 3/16 of an inch that seems like it doesn't want to go in is the part that holds the seal in the case. If you don't get the seal flush, it will probably work itself out of the case and as it comes out, the part of the seal that sticks up in the center will press into the flange that is on the axle and distort the sealing surface.

What I eventually did in order to get the seals in flush was to make myself a mickey mouse installer tool. The passenger side is more critical as the case doesn't have very much flat surface around the seal in the upper right quadrant. I found that 2 inch pvc pipe is pretty much the same size as the seal. I cut a one inch ring and then with a wood block on it, I could pound on it.

The outer diameter of the left and right oil seals are the same, but the the axle shafts are different. The left axle shaft (driver's side) is larger.

Now that I know what seals you guys are talking about I dont see why yours were leaking. Thats like a RMS leak. Kinda bad luck. OEM over hurr

Ok so if this is side A:

http://www.diytrade.com/china/pd/290...tml#normal_img

does side A face the differential or does it face the tire???


I currently have it facing the Differential and it is still leaking. When I installed the new seals from Nissan the other day I put both sides, with side A, facing the differential. I used large sockets that fit the outer metal ring and lightly tapped them into place with a hammer. I set them in so that the outer metal lip of each seal was sitting as flush as I could get it by eye and feel with the inner beveled edge of the transmission. Any thoughts as to what I did wrong? Thanks in advance for the help. Im puzzled with this!

Also as a side note. The first time it was put back together the transmission was removed from the car about a year ago b/c I had to replace the clutch and a bearing on the input shaft of the transmission. My friend does car repairs and was for some reason beating the outer casing of my transmission to either get the new seal in or the old seal out. cant really remember, but i know he has more wrench time than I so I was an observer at this point. Is it possible that the casing is bent??

Looking at the photo, that is the way the seal would look when installed in the differential case.

As for your friend beating on the case, that would not be because of the seal. If you had the transmission out of the car, the axle seal takes 2 seconds to pop out and 30 seconds to install. I seriously doubt if he bent the case. It is a casting and castings don't bend, they will crack and shatter. Its possible to hit the edge of the seal opening and cause a burr on the edge, but he probably wouldn't have gotten the seal in without filing the edge smooth.

u wont be able to push it in with your hand or fingers. it is an interference fit. the lip on the seal inthe picture fits inside the axle. there is a round metal lip on the axle end that goes into the tranny. this goes over the seal to prevent crud from getting in there. On the drivers side, position the seal by hand inthe opening. then take a 2x4 and place the end over the seal and hammer it GENTLY into place. this will seat it. then take a ratchet exention and tap all the way around the seal to ensure it is seated inthe bore.
on the passenger side itis a different story. i took a flat pry bar and after positioning it by hand just levered the thing into the bore. worked like a charm.

Again, the passenger seal has a smaller inside diameter (I.D.) than the drivers side. Make sure you got the right seal here. If you put the drivers seal in the passenger side, you will still have the leak.

Many thanks!
 

I used this thread to get the job done. I installed Nissan Genuine parts and, at least with the factory part no., they are identical for both sides. I used a little grease, got them as perfectly aligned as possible and tapped them in with a 36MM socket on the inner edge of the seal (inside the seal lip). It took several tries and a couple cuss words but it worked.

This thread was particularly helpful in understanding how the seal itself works and how far it needs to be pressed in. I should have taken pictures but I'm pretty sure a prior mechanic didn't have them pressed in all the way which resulted in some minor leakage.

The bottom line: Maxima.org members ROCK!:D

I know this is old thread, but have a question. If I need to replace an axle, should I just go ahead and replace the seals? Or, if it isn't leaking now, just leave it alone and replace the axle? I've got a 2001 automatic with 82,000 or so miles on it.

If you are a good mechanic ...
 

The conventional wisdom is to trade out old for rebuilt because of the time involved. There is a big range in quality in the after market however. Cardone for example is readily available but is junk, IMHO. I will never use their parts again. If you have to take it apart again you will need to pay for and go through the hassle of another alignment. Then there's your time for doing the job all over again. My next go around, I will try to source OEM or very high quality parts and rebuild the axles myself.

I would replace the seal. It is half worn out. For less than $10, you will save yourself a lot of work later on.

Always listen to DennisMik. He knows what he is talking about. You should always replace the seals when you do an axle job. I don't think an old seal will seal well on a new axle. For the cost and labor, it's not worth skipping replacing the seals just to save a few bucks.

Some people want to avoid the work involved with replacing things like seals while they are in there anyway.

The old seal will fail sooner or later. Which means buying the 10 dollar seal, and doing the entire task again.

Thank you DennisMik and PH98I30. I will replace the seal. I wasn't trying to save $10. I was more along the lines of not unsettling something that isn't broken, and perhaps risk not installing it correctly and causing a leak. For the labor and the cost, makes sense to replace.

Output shaft cv axle seal !!! 2010 maxi
 

:eek:https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/maxima....375307545a.jpg
spring came out when removing the old output shaft seal on the transfer case ! I want to install the oem axle i just bought from nissan and install the new seal. but i noticed something looking like a hair half hanging over my bearing (it was the spring ) its out as you can tell. What does this spring do n why do i need it? How do i replace this spring without damaging cvt??

Any update on your spring situation? I just changed my LH axle due to a ticking sound with rotation from what i thought was the inner joint. During replacement i saw the spring hanging, took it out looked at it and placed it back. New axle also ticking. Did you experience any noise with the loose/ damaged spring?

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/maxima....06122722e.jpeg
My old seal with spring detached like yours. Upon purchasing a new seal, you can see that the spring is part of the seal on the back side. New seal= new spring. Go ahead toss the old spring and change the seal.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/maxima....3a7ab8d3b.jpeg
New seal installed.