I need to replace the seal at the input of the front differential. Can I just disconnect the driveshaft at the universal and then remove a nut holding the yoke on, then pry the seal off? Or is there some other way this has to be done? Is one type of seal better than another? Does anyone have pics of this procedure? Any help or advise is appreciated, thanks.

 

You need to remove the driveshaft from the differential yoke and remove the big nut (pinion nut). It helps if you have access to a compressor and impact gun to do this. Then you need a 2 jaw puller to pull the yoke off the pinion shaft. The seal can be popped out with a pry bar or large screwdriver. When you are putting the new seal in, try to press it in as even as possible. I use a big socket to do this.

Be careful not to overtighten the pinion nut when you are putting it all back together as this can put to much preload on the pinion bearings and cause them to fail very quickly. tighten the nut until there is no up/down movement of the pinion shaft.

I have only had one problem with a pinion seal that came from advance auto. One of the springs inside the lip of the seal was bad and broke causing a squeak noise as it rubbed on the pinion yoke. Hope this helps.