So I am ready to do the left rear seal today. I get to the flat driveway (father-in-laws) and guess what:
Right side has sprung a leak too. I had two seals anyway, and was going to do both, but what a coincidence. Jack it up and pop the wheels off.
Trying to make sure that the wheel cylinder is not the suspect.
Looks pretty crusty there:
Yikes, the cleaner of the two:
Lovely, looks like someone has been in here before me. Used a 1/2" socket to pull out all the bolts. Then pried off the bottom with a few bolts left in the top to drain the differential.
Nice and crusty as well.
Okay, see the half-threaded pin in the center of the picture? That holds the bigger pin in the middle (you see the silver end as being round here) which runs through two gears. It is 5/16" head, very easy to remove.
Once it is out, tap it out about a half an inch with a punch or similar, and with the tranny in neutral
spin the wheel hub in reverse to get to the back side where the silver pin is sticking out. Grab it with some pliers and yank it out. You may want to scribe it as to which way the pin is in to relation to the housing. You don't want to put it back in crooked.
Once the pin is out, do not turn the axles, you will drop gears!
Once the pin is out, walk around to the side of the Jeep, and kick the hub. You will likely hear a clink when the c-clip falls off the end of the axle into the differential housing. Do it on both sides. If they don't just fall off, they really don't require any effort to remove. Then pull out the axles.
Pic of c-clip on axle
Well, here's the old seal;
And the housing;
Here now is my first issue. 2002 Liberty seal supplied by NAPA. Wrong. Pushed them in by hand.
So I cleaned parts while I waited for a ride to get the right seals.
Finally got the correct wheel seal. It is the 2003 seal.
The 2002 seal is on the left, 2003 on the right.
Here's my cover bolts with the 3.73 tag.
Ready to reinstall;
Letting it get tacky;
Done?
Before:
After:
Took about 3 hours of work for my virgin time. Would've took about 1.5 if I had the right parts. Better than paying a garage to forget my friction modifier.
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Someone must of done some water fording a time or two.Again; great write up,and thanks for taking the time to keep us posted. 