Rear End Pinion Seal

[Fishin Dood]

The pinion seal in the rear end of my 95 GMC Sierra is leaking. How tough is this to fix? I am hoping it is something I can do in the garage. I've replaced u joint's a few times so taking the drive shaft out isn't an issue. Thanks for any help!

[Tyler23]

i beleive on the front pinion you have to make sure you crush the sleeve just right. theres a special tool for it i think?

[Eelpout08]

Feel free to correct me if im wrong but i believe to remove and replace the pinion shaft seal you have to remove the pinion shaft and the whole guts of the differential, which might require re-adjustment of all the clearances and allignment of the ring and pinion gear, at the very least you will need a new crush sleeve as tyler23 said

[Tyler23]

i beleive eelpout08 is right. to get the pinion out you have to slide the axels out and pull the ring gear and all. if your not sure what your doing id say bring it to someone who knows what there doing. its simple and complicated at the same time especailly if you havent tore one apart before....

[Macgyver55]

No, to replace the pinion seal, you only need to remove the driveshaft and the yoke. The seal removes from the front. No need to remove anything inside.

[Jeremy airjer W]

MacGyver is correct. before you remove the nut for the yoke, mark the pinion shaft and the nut so they can be aligned in the exact same place when you reinstall.

Then draw a line down the side of the socket you use to remove the pinion nut. Keep track of how many turn it takes to remove the nut. When you put it back together tighten the nut the same amount of turns checking to make sure you don't go past the marks you put on the toke and shaft.

Once the nut is removed you can tap the backside of the yoke with a hammer to get it loose/off. I stress TAP! work both sides as evenly as you can.

[Tyler23]

ohhh good call guys!! i completely forgot about that..

[Fishin Dood]

Hey thanks for the input everyone. It sounds simple enough...but thats how it always sounds. Doesn't always work out to be easy especially with old vehicles. Thanks again!