this doesnt look good!

[shanebo]

I took the old sx4 out last weekend and upon my return the unmistakable aroma of 80/90 gear oil. The rear end has looked like it had leaked at one point as it was caked in old oil and dust but when I looked underneath it was shimmering with new oil.....hopefully this weekend I can spray the heck out of it and clean off the crud so I can see whats going on....I should top of the gear oil too I suppose....I thought  she was running just a bit to good..... After all any self respecting eagle needs some kind of repair atleast once every two months...she was just procrastinating a bit...lol

[shanebo]

I just pray that this isnt the source of my vibration. I did just spoted an auto shop with a large AMC Renalt service sign in front ...Scottys auto. I may be giving them a buzz here soon....I know nothing about rear ends. whats the syptoms of a bad pinon seal, does it leak out the side of the pumpkin where the axle shafts connect to it?

[carnuck]

With the rig in neutral see if you can wobble the driveshaft at the pinion. That's a dead giveaway of a bad pinion bearing.

[carguy87]

Replacing the rear pinion seal is no biggie at all, in fact O'Reilly Auto actually carries them in stock for like 12$ and takes about 20-25min. to do depending on how skeptical you are of cleaning it before putting back in.  Just removing the 4 8mm bolts holding the rear u-joint to the pinion flange, use a 1/2" dr. impact and a socket to take the nut off, and pull the pinion flange off, mine slid off, but you can use any harmonic balancer puller to remove it.  Old seal can be pulled with a flathead screwdriver or a seal puller bought for about $10 at about any parts store.  If when you pull the flange and see a groove in it where the seal is riding, you can take it to the parts store and most good ones like O'Reilly will mic. it and be able to give you a sleeve to cover up those grooves to keep it from leaking again.

[shanebo]

Both sides look wet....I'm hoping it is just a sloppy brake bleeding job....I guess i could just smell it and id know pretty quick but to be honest I'm a little afraid of what I will find....Aren't axle seals kinda hard to change?

[shaggimo]

if your going to have to change an axle seal, i think you have to press the bearing off to get the new seal on??

The hub has to come off to replace the seal, bearing, and axle stay put. This can be a royal pita, I broke a hub tamer doing this.

[maximus7001]

The rear axle seals on an Eagle are to keep the gear oil away from the bearings. The outer seal between the bearing and hub is to keep outside dirt from getting into the bearings and does not seal against gear oil that's getting past the inner seal. I just pulled the whole axle out and replaced that inner seal, cleaned up the bearing and dust seal and repacked it with grease.

You need to remove the diff cover to get the axle out.

The passenger side was easy since there is no end play adjustment. The driver side is adjustable.

[carnuck]

What's different between the Eagle and Hornet Model 15s? I pulled the axle out of Hornets by taking the backing plate bolts out and slide hammering the shafts out. The race and inner seal stayed inside but the backing plate came off. Mine will be swapped out for a Chrysler 8.25 soon anyways.