Replacing the front seal and wheelbearing

[hawkeye213]

ok am replacing the front driverside axle seal and front driverside wheel bearing First off do all 2500's have the Dana 60 upfront. I looked at the differential and it doesnt say. There is a metal tag that has the #'s 52070136A0 354 611 223Do those #'s mean anything to anybody.Any suggestions or tips on replacing the seal inside the differential.Any tips on removing the hub have heard it can be a bear to get offThanks Rob

[hex0rz]

ok am replacing the front driverside axle seal and front driverside wheel bearing First off do all 2500's have the Dana 60 upfront. I looked at the differential and it doesnt say. There is a metal tag that has the #'s 52070136A0 354 611 223 Do those #'s mean anything to anybody. Any suggestions or tips on replacing the seal inside the differential. Any tips on removing the hub have heard it can be a bear to get off Thanks Rob

I'm pretty sure they all are Dana 60's. Unless someone did something to the truck later on. Dunno. Remove the hub may be extremely difficult. Sounds like you have never removed them. Otherwise, you would not be asking. If the truck has never had any service work done to the front, or you live in an area with heavy corrosion potential, it will probably be pretty difficult. Take the caliper off, remove the 4 bolts that hold the hub-assembly/axle on the spindle and get a SLEDGEHAMMER and hit that SOB until she comes out. Get anti-seize and apply it to all the contact surfaces so it comes out smoother next time. Try the best penetrating oil/lube you got. Once the axle/hub-assemblies are removed, remove the intermediate shaft by removing the CAD. Then remove the pumpkin. Create a fulcrum point with a 2x4 near the gears and get a HUGE pry-bar and reef on it on a NON-CRITICAL point of the ring gear. Have someone catch the pumpkin as it comes out. WATCH OUT! Its fairly heavy. Once the innards are out, knock out the seals. Clean the surfaces up and reinstall driver side LAST. Buy 4 feet of 1/2" all thread and get yourself a piece of PVC adapter that will fit the diameter of the seal. May have to sand the edges down to make it fit. I had to on mine. Get some nuts and washers. Have a person hold the passenger side seal in place and directing the all thread on the seal to seat it. Take a sledge hammer and hit the end of the exposed all thread to seat the seal in place. Do not forget you are going in from the driver side to passenger side. Its a push not a pull method. After, seat the driver seal. Easiest seal to do. Then reassemble all components. Make sure that you THOROUGHLY clean the axle tubes BEFORE you do any install and reassembly work!

[dripley]

Ther is another way to try and remove the hub assemblies and that is to loosen the 4 bolts a few turns but leave them in place. Take the socket and an extension and put it over one of the bolts. Have someone start the truck and slowly turn the wheel. wedge the socket and extesion on the bolt to the axle yoke. When it moves stop and pu it on another bolt and just keep working it out. I did read a post here that someone bent a tie rod end because theres was forzen on there that bad. So be easy with it. If that does not work get out the BFH and have at it. As far as the axle seals, never done it.

[hawkeye213]

Thanks guys for the replies. Ur right I have never done either of these processes. I will give the power steering thing a try. I have read the hubs can be a bear to get off. I don't have the cad on my truck. Was wondering about having to pull the guts out of the differential to replace the seal.Thanks Rob

[CSM]

Ther is another way to try and remove the hub assemblies and that is to loosen the 4 bolts a few turns but leave them in place. Take the socket and an extension and put it over one of the bolts. Have someone start the truck and slowly turn the wheel. wedge the socket and extesion on the bolt to the axle yoke. When it moves stop and pu it on another bolt and just keep working it out. I did read a post here that someone bent a tie rod end because theres was forzen on there that bad. So be easy with it. If that does not work get out the BFH and have at it. As far as the axle seals, never done it.

clever. very clever.

[CUMMINSDIESELPWR]

took me 5 hours of hammering, cussing, beating on it, pb blaster, propane torch and it finally came out, ruined though but it came out. it was my 4th one and damn that thing didnt want to come out.

[hawkeye213]

Ok got the hub off in about 30 minutes. Dripley I modified the power steering trick (pst) a bit. After taking the rotor off I threaded on a lug nut on one of the studs on the hub and then slipped on old rotor back on the hub and then put a lug nut on the stud opposite the above mentioned stud. It makes the rotor sit offset or as we say in Texas woppy jawed. I then loosened the bolts holding the hub on about a 1/2 inch and then applied PST and then I rotated the hub with the high side of the rotor opposite the socket and extension braced from the bolts to the axle tube and gave it a good whack and she popped the first whack. I then just moved the socket and extension in an x pattern and reapplied the power steeering and then rotate the high side of the rotor to be opposite the socket and give another good whack. Loosen the bolts another 1/2 inch and repeat the above steps.the offset rotor creates a fulcrum lever thingy on the bolt you have the socket braced with the power steering. The first 100,000 miles on this truck were in the Pacific Northwest so I was thinking these would just be rust welded on there. The pst might have worked on its on but I was afraid to really reef on the power steering for fear of that socket and extension slipping off the tube and go flying thru my eyeball or something. I had read about the rotor trick on another site and just combined them and it worked perfect.

- - - Updated - - -

Now to the seal. First off I didn't realize I had to pull both axles to remove the pumpkin. DUH !!! Anyway after pulling the differential and getting a look at it I decided I needed to get a little more educated about this task.

When I went to the part store and he showed me the seal I thought he was joking

But after looking down the axle tube it is indeed the correct seal. So I guess my question is how would you go about knocking the seal out. That cone thing is almost the same diameter as the tube and it is metal and where that cone thing tapers down and attaches to the seal is right where the rubber seal is .So if I beat on the cone end I will just be putting pressure in the middle of the seal spreading the outside of the seal and wedging it tighter ?????

I understand the concept of using the all thread to seat the new seal

But the 1 3/4socket as you can see sits just inside the edge of the seal and I am wondering if that would effect the integrity of the seal ?

Also if anyone has some thoughts on how to remove that pumpkin correcty. I just had this vision of prying on it and it just falls out on the ground with a thousand little shims going everywhere.

Thanks Rob

[dripley]

I am happy to see you got the hubs out, I struggled on my first. The second was easier than the first. Any time you can get a partoff with out having to use the BFH is a good day. My front seals are still dry.

[diesel4life]

Count your blessings dodge wisened up and went to slip on rotors. On my 1998.5 they are pressed onto the hub I have to press the wheel studs out in order to change rotors or wheel bearings

[dripley]

I saw athread about that not to long ago. I am glad I did not have the mess with that earlier set up on the rotors.

[Rogan]

I can't help you any, on the seal portion. However, I'm subscribing to see how you fair with the job..Good job on the wheel hub, by the way. Mine took about 2 days to get loose. And a pile of broken tools.