Hey, having trouble finding info on this, and I don't have just a ton of experience with diffs.

Need to replace the axle seals on my front diff. It probably needs a full rebuild, but I want to wait till I regear it. But I need to get the leaks stopped in the mean time.

Everything I've found is detailing out how to do it with the later style plug in cv shafts. I have the bolt on style. Think I can get the passenger side figured out, but how do you get to the driver side seal? It looks like there's a plate bolted on the side that the seal would be under, but the cv flange blocks the bolts.

Thanks for any help!

 

So, nobody has ever had to do this, I'm guessing? I've been searching the web, and all I see is how to do the 97+ style.

Really, I need to know how to remove the driver side stub shaft from the front diff. Hopefully without removing the diff and taking it apart

 

I don't know how to get the stub-shaft out but I have replaced the seal in the cover plate on the driver's side along with the output shaft bearing. To get at a couple of the bolts for the cover plate, a crows-foot is necessary and a ratcheting box-end wrench is handy.

I've attached scans from my GM service manual that I used.

Would not the stub shaft come out like the full shafts?

 

Are you talking about the plate on the driver side that is underneath the cv flange? There's bolts on that, but there's barely any clearance between the heads and the cv flange. I don't think it would allow the bolts to come out enough before hitting the flange. There might be a quarter inch clearance.

I wonder if the stub shaft just comes out? Seemed to be secured pretty good, though

Edit:

I need to remove #29 in the diagram below, I think, to remove the "carrier cover" and access the seal.

 

It looks to me that the stub shaft must come out. According to the exploded diagram, the it looks to engage the carrier using splines and an internal spring clip just like the ones the don't have the bolt-flange. I would think a slide hammer could get it out when bolted to the flange. If you could find a picture of the stub shaft and confirm that its inner part is just like the ones that don't have a bolt-flange, that could confirm that a slide-hammer would work.

Here is a picture of what mine looks like with the cover removed:


This is a picture that shows the part of my front axles that go into the left side of the front axle.
​​​​​​

 

Hmm. You might be on to something. Think I'll try to slide hammer it out next weekend.

This weekend I'm going off roading, and I don't want to risk not having it back together in time!