GUYS; I need some help here,i have all my parts to do my ball joints[xrf] and front u joints.crawled under my truck today to have a look see again, planning to do the project next week while on days off.I noticed that my drivers side hub at the u joint is wet colored!! it almost looks like something leaked on it!! do you think the wheel bearing is on it's way out???Wasn't planning on spending another $450.00 for hub bearings.my instincts tell me the hub bearing is heating up and grease is seeping out.What are your thoughts???

 

no your axle seals are on their way out and it is a pain in the you know what to change. jack up the truck and check your wheel for movemnet. when you take your hubs off take off the abs sensor and get a needle greaser and fill the hubs with about 6 squirts of grease spin them a few times and give it another 5 or 6 squirts of grease. this will save your hubs!

 

Well i had a closer look this morning,and it is definitely the axle seal.now what is involved to change it??i will have the axle out to do the universals and the ball joints.do you need some kind of seal puller or is it similar to a pinion seal ??

 

its a major bummer to change you need to pull the diff all out and pull/drive in the new seals from inside the diff housing. if you haven't worked on a diff before it could be challenging. fyi haven't heard of too many of the newer style axle seals leaking. its like a two part seal doesn't actually ride on the axle shafts it grips the shafts and spins in between it that makes sense...

 

its a major pita, to replace the seals u need to pull the axles and the diff. and then fab up or buy a seal installer. did my 99 and needed a case spreader too. heres a link too the tools u will need http://quad4x4.com/Front%20Axle%20Sh...al%20Tools.htm its not a hard job just time consuming, before inserting the axles into the new seals make sure there arent any grooves in the axle shafts where the old seals road, and before re assembly clean those empty tubes out and grease the splines of the shafts, just insert slowly, u dont want to move or nick the new seals.