Rear axle seal leak

Vanspeed

Vanspeed

Well-known member
Hi guys,

I am putting together a 1953 F-100 with a 1964 F-100 9 inch rear axle. I was working on the passenger side fender today so I had the truck jacked up on that side. When I was done I noticed rear axle lube coming down the driver side rear tire. This truck is not on the road yet so this is not something that needs to be fixed right away but what am I looking at here? Never replaced seals in a 9 inch before. How many seals does this rear have? Do I have to take the whole axle apart? Thanks.
 
Simple to fix. Take the four bolts loose that hold the backing plate to the housing. Those bolts also hold the flange that retains the axle to the housing. Once the bolts are out you can pull out the axle. You may have to tap it out with a hammer if it has been in there for a long time. Once out you can easily see the seal. I use a seal puller or a slide hammer to pull them out. Change both sides as the other one will eventually need changing also. In addition check the bearings, they may be due to be changed also. Save one of the old seals as it should have a part# on it. Your local parts house can cross reference the # for the new seal.
 
If it's anything like a sedan rear, it has one seal on each side. You have to remove the axle to get at it. Not necessary to remove the backing plates and brakes although the bolts that hold the axle in also hold the backing plates to the housing.

If you got one leaking, better to replace both sides as both may be in the same condition.
 
An old home axle puller is to use a length of 3/8 chain. Bolt a link under a lug nut with a big washer, then with a leather glove, back off and yank like the dickens. The slide hammer seal puller can be borrowed from Auto Zone.
 
I pull the stuck axles like this: Install the brake drum backwards, use 3 lug nuts on loosely and use the drum as the puller. Of course remove the retainer nuts first.

Seals, I generally pop out with the end of the axle. Look close at the bearings, I do them in pairs of one is bad. You should feel some roughness when you spin it or it may appear loose and have a little wobble to it.
 
Pay attention to the depth of the seal in the bore. At least in some housings there was not a definite edge to locate the seal so if you put it in too far, you could distort it, and not far enough, it would rub on the bearing retainer ring. Often, the leaking gear oil got into the bearing and diluted the grease in it. Then after the seal was replaced, the gear oil ran out of the bearing and then the bearing ran dry.
Another removal method, if the bearing is not stuck too bad, is to put the drum on backwards with the lug nuts backwards about 4 or 5 turns, and use the drum like a slide hammer.......................................Looks like bobss396 beat me to it!
 
All replies above and if you do the bearings you will need a 20 ton press. Or take the axles and bearings to a machine shop.
 
Some decades back, I had a rear axle seal leak, so I bought the seals and bearings and took the car in to a shop in town that is reputed to be one of the best and most trustworthy in town.
Bear in mind that most of these places won't let you go out in the shop and watch them work (allegedly due to their insurance not covering you in case of accident in the shop).
After having drove the car a while, I happened to be under the car for some reason or other, and noticed the entire brake backing plate was loose. I pulled off the brake drum and noticed the bearing retainer plate bolts were coming undone, so I started tightening them, but they wouldn't tighten down enough to get the retainer plate flush against the backing plate. It turns out that the guy at the shop was too lazy to pull out the old seal and just shoved the new seal right over the old one, causing the bearing to stick out farther, thus not allowing the retainer plate to torque down flush.
I never trusted another shop again after that.
 
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