Little trick for differential seals.

So while replacing a broken CV, I noticed a small leak at the differential, and set about replacing the seal there.
Pulling the seal was actually pretty stuborn, but eventually with a little more elbow grease than I would have preferred, it did pop.
The tight fit and severe lack of swing space meant re-installation was going to be a chore.
Looking around the garage I finally found the perfect tool! A 3" plumbing clean out fit the seal and inside the flange perfectly!
Well foolishly I tried using that with a hammer, only to meet witmuch frustration, let alone dropping the "clean" seal on the garage floor a few times. (Here's hoping I cleaned it right!)
Then I got smart. I drillled a hole through the clean out and used the cap screw through the centre to pull the seal in!

It of course keeps wanting to go in crooked, but a few light taps around the rim squares it up and then the bolt will be looser, tighten down, square seal with hammer, rise repeat until the clean out is flush with the green flange.

This seal install was a bit of a battle, but I haven't had one leak on me yet. Once again, working smarter instead of harder saved the day.
Yes I damaged the bottom of the flanged pulling the old seal, but I'm thinking it didn't touch the sealing surfaces.
Yes I know the differential needs cleaning, I'm due for a clutch very soon I'll do it then.

Nice work!

That axle flange sleeve is more fragile than most people think. It can easily be distorted, as you know, when attempting to remove the drive flange seal.

I like inserting a socket into the inner diff bearing, using it as a fulcrum point, and then leverage the seal out with my flat blade screwdriver/ hook tool. This method insures your NOT pressing against that sleeve

After doing 4 sets of drive flange seals I bought the proper seal press tool. It presses the seal in perfectly straight every time and eliminates any guess work in how far to push it in [emoji2]



Again, nice work in your seal replacement [emoji106]


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Yeah, that was using a screwdriver with poor lighting. After that I went out and got a proper puller and flashlight batteries. I had a puller, but it was the hook and fulcrum kind and didn't work here.

I'm pretty anal retentive with seals... They tend to be a lot of work to do twice. Pretty sure the damage is localized to the lip here so I don't think it will leak. Time will tell I suppose.

That tool is def. The pro route. For a diy I got pretty lucky finding the clean out, the size and shape was nearly purpose-built! And as for squaring it up with a hammer, I used my absolute smallest, I think it's about a 6 ounce hammer.

That seal on the passenger side is available pre-installed into the flange, so swapping out the seal is as easy as removing the whole flange and pressing in the new one. It's the driver side seal has no removable flange and has to be pried out.

mr.loops, may I ask where you acquired that tool?

KCTDI said:

mr.loops, may I ask where you acquired that tool?

Click to expand...

I ordered it from vw snapon tools


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