Dana 30 pinion seal leaking

[Sevrlyph]

Hello,

I noticed some oil under my bronco this weekened. It looks like the oil is coming from the pinion seal on my frint axle, a dana30. How do I replace the seal?

1. Do I need to remove the cover plate, differential, ring and pinion and then replace the seal from the front side?

2. Do I drop the drive shaft, remove the yoke and replace the seal from the backside?

Looking at the exploded view I am thinking I need to go with #2. Also I am wondering about the preload when I put it back together. How do I measure and adjust the preload? Do I use shims or a crush sleeve? If a crush sleeve how does that work? If shims do I ust buy new ones and measure to the same size as what is currently in there?

Replacement parts should include?
1. pinion seal
2. new shims or crush sleeve?
3. anything else?

Thanks for any help,

Mike.

 

[Sevrlyph]

bump....

 

[76 bronco J]

,,, option 2... I'm pretty sure the dana 30 is like the dana 44 which has shims & no crush sleeve like the stock ford 9" rear.... the shims are not messed with while you're changing the pinion seal just leave them in place... for the seal behind the yoke nut I prefer to use the right stuff sealant or silicon instead of the O-ring type seal & also put a small amount of sealant on the outer edge of the pinion seal where it meets the housing to prevent possible seepage

 

[fordtrucks4ever]

If the yoke has a groove where the seal makes contact you have two options. A Speedi-Sleeve or replace with new yoke. Otherwse it will still leak. I have seen the sleeve/seal kit sell up to $27 from parts store and replacement yoke low as $35. The sleeve should not be over $5 from a bearing house.

 

[68ford]

make sure the pinion nut is tight. it might just be loose and leaking through the splines, if so just remove nut, put sealant where nut seats on yoke and tighten the nut, this will seal the splines. happens all the time in the big truck world.