OKAY HERE'S THE DEAL.
The Jimmy has been leaking small amounts of axle fluid for some time now and I hadn't gotten around to it. The other day though, I rented a 2/3 jaw puller to finish the job. I got to the final step before re-installation of everything today when I messed up. While removing what I THOUGHT was the old seal, I punctured through something that I maybe shouldn't have. I thought it was the seal so I burned it out then punched through it to try to get it out. Now that I see what I did, I'm not sure what to do or how to fix the problem. I WAS SO CLOSE TO BEING DONE TOO!!!
There doesn't seem to be a way to pull the damaged metal and replace it, so I was thinking maybe jb weld and rtv? The yoke that attaches to the rear axle and the new seal are all ready to go back on the car as soon as I can get the metal right. The oil leak now though is pretty substantial and I wont be able to drive the car until I fix it.
Here's a photo.
Let me know what you think.
Thanks,
~Dan
[IMG][/IMG]

 

thats the seal housing,which is trash. the new seal will come with it....it should be as 1 piece. looks like you pulled out the center (rubber part) but left the rest. Just pry it out with a flathead and knock the new one in.

 

Even the parts that I put the multiple holes into? I pulled out the rubber and the metal spring-like ring, but the old outer metal housing that I see on my new seal, is still present and in place. It seems as though it's part of the axle. Maybe it's just rust fused to the axle? I couldn't get it to come off. I heated it, PB blasted it, punched holes in it, yelled at it, swore at it, and it's still there. I used a flathead but it stayed in there.

By the way, you say that's the metal housing that the seal comes with. . .however, my replacement doesn't seem to be nearly the diameter of what you say is the old seal.

 

Grab ahold of it with a small pair of channel locks and pry down. work your way around it. they can sometimes be a pain.

It is indeed though part of the old seal. You new one should fit though. Did they ask you any details when you requested it? like 4wd,wheelbase,etc? what part number is it?

 

I agree^^

New pinion seal will fix it. The seal goes all the way to the edge of the axle housing. There are 2 different ones depending on ring gear diameter. Yank the old one out like Chris said, take it with you to the parts store, get the correct seal and carefully install it. There is a copper crush washer in there so the pinion nut needs to be torqued down back to whatever it was when you took it apart. They are torqued at the factory, but not exactly the same. If you didn't measure before removing it, you'll need a new crush washer. If it's not torqued properly, the pinion bearings will wear rapidly.

 

THAT i did not know.

Cool. i learned something.

 

part is Driveworks S-8660S.
Here's the picture of my axle again. I altered the photo on paint to illustrate what I mean about the part not seeming to be large enough. The Black is the inner rubber ring on the new seal. The green is the metal on the seal. The red marks the area that the seal will not replace. The red area is damaged by punctures from my screwdriver. That is, the green will fit under/be replaced by the diameter of the new seal, but the red wont as its diameter is greater than that of the seal.

 

The seal goes past your red line almost a half inch. At about the 3:00 position in the pic, past your red line, there looks to be a small grease "drop". That "drop" is on the metal part of the seal. Stick a flat blade screwdriver between the axle housing and the seal, beat on it with a hammer and pull the seal out. It probably has some gasket sealer between the seal and the housing to help hold the seal in place, and keep it from leaking, so it might be a little stubborn coming out.

EDIT: and BTW, save yourself a lot of grief, exchange the Driveworks seal for a good one This isn't something you want to "cut corners" on. Look on your RPO code sticker in the glove box. If it has "GU6" the NAPA seal # is 15315. http://m.napaonline.com/Tablet/parts...315_0343461826

This video "walks" you through it, they don't measure rotational torque, but marking everything like this gets it in the ballpark:
The seal this guy installs is very similar to yours, it goes all the way out to the edge of the axle housing.

 

Ive done this job and I should have pictures around..

This is my old seal




And this is what the new seal should look like



Remove the whole thing and reinstall the new seal. Nothing wrong with what your doing. That whole seal has to come out to install the new one.
Make sure to top off the fluid also.

 

You guys were SO helpful. The pictures were amazing and just what the doctor ordered. I used the add reputation feature for everyone who commented here. Thanks a lot. Hopefully future Blazerians will look at this post and be equally helped. My part I ended up with was the same as giovanni's. $10 for that *#&$ thing.