front axle refurb: wheel seals?
 

I'm looking to replace the inner/outer bearings on the front wheels. There is also a wheel seal that might be done while you're in there but I don't know how many seals are there. Two per wheel or two in the front (one per wheel)?

thanks.

One seal per axle, on the inner side of the hub.

I just did these over the weekend. I don't have a seal puller so I had to cook my hubs in the oven for a little while in order to get the seals out. Then I still managed to mangle them getting them out. New ones went in easy tho.

thank you

Welcome.

Cook your hubs... :roll: Mmmmm, yum.

I replaced my grease seals two weeks ago. My lazy man's way of removing the old ones was to hammer an awl through the top corner and use a screwdriver to pry against the awl. 30 seconds to remove and no hot grease smell in the kitchen.

Experienced chefs know better than to risk the tell tale smell of Redline Hi Temp in the kitchen. This is an old recipe:

- place the greased hubs in a large oven bag
- bake for 30 minutes at 300 degrees
- remove oven bag to garage
- remove hub from oven bag


And for desert.......

- place a set of fresh new bearing races in a clean, used ice cream container
- set ice cream container in freezer, where is will appear unremarkable
- remove when nicely frozen, and slink off to garage to enjoy.

Another dirty trick for pulling hard to get at seals. Drive a long drywall screw into the seal and pull the seal out with vice grips. Be careful not to drive the screw in too far or hit the shaft. Clamp the vice grips on the drywall screw sideways and close to the case and using a screwdriver pry up on the vice grips. Drive in 2 or 3 and work the seal out in steps. This works on seals that still have the shaft sticking through as you find when resealing a still assembled gearbox.

I guess I am the only one who likes the smell of cooked grease?

It wasn't that bad actually, but I'll still be buying a seal puller for next time.

Good info. I like Kurts.
We need a tips and tricks section!
Love this kind of stuff!