Thread: how to remove front left axle shaft seal? (picture included)

ok, so i got the whole seal out.

went to get a new one, got home, only to find there is a hairline crack in the new seal! dammit!

what a waste of a 3 hour drive.

so got on the phone to them and they are going to hunt for another one for me.

then the mission of fitting it!

take your old one down to a metal suppliers and get a piece of thick wall pipe in the same outer diameter as the seal (or up to about 1.5mm / 1/16th inch narrower.

then use that to gently press the seal in. once you have the seal in placegrab a straight edge hold it flat on the hub so that when you slide it down onto the tube it touching, mark the tube (make sure the steering is dead ahead and the tube is dead central.

then at a later stage have a metalsmith place a large flat disk on the pipe so that it sits closer to the end by the width of the ruler and is dead square, machine it down so that it just fits inside the hub studs and theres your new seal installer for next time.

how tight is this seal?

its very hard to press in...

can i grease it up?

you should always grease the running face of seals prior to installation

it should be somewhere between a bit of a hard push by hand and "I need a 20t press, your joking... right?"

a very small hammer and a suitable drift will get it in with some patients just make sure it goes in square and to the correct depth.

yeah it feels mighty hard... will grease it up tommorow and give it a whirl...