Vitara diff oil seal replacement advice ?

[comanche 3,036]

Hope someone can help. The rear axle differential to prop shaft oil seal is leaking on my 97 1600 Vitara. Am I right in hoping that removing the prop shaft and flange on the diff will expose the seal and enable it to be replaced ?. If I'm right do I need a special puller to get the flange off ? Any advice would be gratefully recieved .

Many thanks

[Baghdadnights 150]

You won't need a puller to get the flange of but you will need to set the preload when doing the nut back up unless it's just an offroad toy then it doesn't matter as much

[comanche 3,036]

You won't need a puller to get the flange of but you will need to set the preload when doing the nut back up unless it's just an offroad toy then it doesn't matter as much

Thanks for that .I felt all confident then you mentioned pre-load . Er how does one measure / set pre-load ?

[Baghdadnights 150]

Some are done by a torque setting on the nut itself others you have to use a special tool to set the drag before the pinion turns I'll see if I can find the settings on yours tomorrow is it petrol or diesel 3 or 5 door you might need a new preload crush washer as well

Edited June 1, 2012 by Baghdadnights

[comanche 3,036]

Some are done by a torque setting on the nut itself others you have to use a special tool to set the drag before the pinion turns I'll see if I can find the settings on yours tomorrow is it petrol or diesel 3 or 5 door you might need a new preload crush washer as well

That is really good of you. Its a 3 door petrol. I have a torque wrench so fingers crossed that's the method rather than a special tool.

The Haynes manual I have skips gaily over anything to do with the diff area .

Once again" Bagdadnights" thanks for taking the trouble to help.I'll tune -in tomorrow . .

[neil82 1,080]

no real need to have torque settings, just mark nut and shaft and when putting back together tighten til marks realigned, onlything i would do is use loctite on the nut

[comanche 3,036]

no real need to have torque settings, just mark nut and shaft and when putting back together tighten til marks realigned, onlything i would do is use loctite on the nut

Thanks Neil. I've actually found a youtube clip of a couple of guys tackling the job with minimal tools and doing just that. . They marked the nut ,shaft and flange and counted the full turns needed to undo the nut .

I feel a bit more confident about doing it myself now .

 

Thanks very much to Bagdadnights and Neil for taking the time to help