Pinion seal replacement.. Hard to do?? NOW GAS TANK TOO!!

[DAYLEY/CHALLENGER]

The manual said you have to have all these special tools and such and talked about the bearing preload......

My seal has started leaking and there is a puddle under the rear end.  Can't you just drop the drive shaft, remove the nut and yoke and pry out the old seal and put in the new one??  Or is all that just wishful thinking and I will really screw up the rear end if I try to shade tree this thing..........?

[Bullitt-]

Well I replaced mine...can't say there was much to it, I checked the site & marking the nut location is recommended but when I went to remove the nut was not very tight.  Upon recommendation of CP I put it back & used Locktite.   To remove I held the pinion with a monkey wrench & used a socket/ratchet for the nut. Hammer & flat blade took care of the old seal, installed the new seal with rubber mallet & a socket that matched the seal size.

[DAYLEY/CHALLENGER]

Will I have to identify the pinion size........there are 3.........or is the seal the same for all..........My rear end is an 8 3/4.

[Bullitt-]

  Donno about that...just ordered the one listed for my year... Also needed a puller to get the yoke off... Had one in my front end kit...kit is avail through Advanced Auto loan a tool
Kinda like this

[BIGSHCLUNK]

Once the yoke is off it's really pretty EZ 

[Aussie Challenger]

  In theory you shouldn't just undo the nut, yoke and replace the seal, however alot of mechanics do just that, and don't forget to check the oil level when finished.   
  Make sure that the nut is done up very tight even though sometimes as mentioned before the nut can be found loose.
  Make sure that you lube the seal lip before fitting the yoke back on and putting loctite on the thread is a good idea.   

[Chryco Psycho]

the nut is torqued to about 200 ft lbs which is the first problem , second if it is a 489 carrier there is a crush sleeve in there on the yolk that technically should be replaced , if you mark the pinion & nut bfore removal & line up the marks after retightening it you should be Ok

[DAYLEY/CHALLENGER]

Well got the seal today, got the car all up in the air and attempted to proceed......dropped the drive shaft........had to go find a 1 1/4" socket and then noticed something else......I thought I smelled gas!!   My JB weld on the tank has givenup.....after two years there is a wet spot on the botton of the tank....Now I have to have a new tank so I decided to park and wait on both repairs.  I will have to shop around for a decent price on a tank and then  work that into the budget.            

Thanks for all the info, guess I will file it away for a little while.......

[DAYLEY/CHALLENGER]

Special thanks to Bullitt for the PMs about tanks.   I guess with a 40 year old machine, something has to give up........too bad they are things that are not cheap. 

Drained the tank today.  The sending unit must have been accurate. Said a little under 1/2 and I got out about 8 gallons.........

More later on the progress of both items.......

[bigblue73]

I've got an article that I will scan and post on here.  It's from the Ol' Chrysler Power magazine that I believe is now Mopar Enthusiast.  The nut is not a problem, the crush sleeve is not a problem, but getting the yoke off took me the better part of 4 hours.  I broke to pullers on that project.  Lesson learned on that one.

[burdar]

I got my tank from RockAuto.  It was only $158 and I got it in record time.

[DAYLEY/CHALLENGER]

Rockauto has the best price so far and the shipping on only $25.00.......total of  $184.79........ ...........Thanks for that  info......Still have to work in the budget 

[ksierens]

Don't forget to google for the Rock Auto discount code to save an additional 5%

[DAYLEY/CHALLENGER]

OK.......Changed the seal today..........Have a friend that has a shop and he offered his lift for me to use.  So I did today something I had never done and it went well.   My only question is how to keep the cover over the seal secured?   

Gas tank will be later........

Uploader full  again so.............

http://s669.photobucket.com/albums/vv53/DAYLEY-CHALLENGR/Pinion%20seal%20Change/Pinion%20seal%20change/

[Bullitt-]

    So Easy a Caveman could Do It