Differential seal question
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 680
Likes: 3
From: charlotte N.C
Differential seal question
I bought my 76 corvette about a year ago and put it straight to storage because all my money was being invested into my 68 frame off restoration. Now that the garage is finally free of the 68 chassis I brought the 76 back home. I jacked it up to see what had to be done before I could consider it to be reliable on the road. When I did this, I noticed that the pinion seal had been broken. As you can see in the picture al the oil was splashed along the fiberglass that surrounded the pinion seal. I don’t know if it is currently broken or if it has broke some time in its life but I want to replace the pinion seal just to be sure. How can I do this without removing the differential? Any advice on how to do it? Are there any how to articles on replacing the seal?
Thanks
Kevin
Thanks
Kevin
Racer
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 295
Likes: 2
From: Columbus OH
I believe it can be done by removing the driveshaft and giving access to the front of the diff, but if I remember correctly that gives you very little room to work in. If it were me, I would drop the rear gear and replace the seal.
Do a search on pinion seal replacement and there is some great info on it.
Do a search on pinion seal replacement and there is some great info on it.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,054
Likes: 8
From: Cape Coral Florida
I just did my 70 and left it in the car. I dropped the rear so it hung by the trailing arms leaving the half shafts attached and tilted the front of the rear down enough to get to the seal after pulling the yoke. Still have to remove the spare tire carrier first.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 7,123
Likes: 433
From: Gladstone MO
C3 of Year Finalist (appearance mods) 2019
If you pull the driveshaft and the front differential mount, you can get an impact in there to remove the yoke. Mark where the nut is in relation to the pinion shaft and work carefully. If you can break it loose and then count how many turns to get it off, you cna get it back close to the same place. I think GTR1999 has a paper somewhere on how to do this.
TIP> pack the cavity on the seal with grease. When you drive the seal back in, the garter spring can come out unless it has something to help hold it in place. And since it's a good idea to put some grease on the lips of the seal anyway==
TIP> pack the cavity on the seal with grease. When you drive the seal back in, the garter spring can come out unless it has something to help hold it in place. And since it's a good idea to put some grease on the lips of the seal anyway==
Tech Contributor
Joined: Aug 1999
Posts: 15,135
Likes: 3,939
From: Connecticut, USA
5th Gear
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
From: norwood ma
more help, please!
Tim
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Safety Car
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 4,399
Likes: 792
rear seal
The right way to fix the rear seal is to pull the rear. Yes you will get your hands dirty but you can install the seal properly, tilt it overnight to check for leaks and also check universals and side shaft seals and a lot of other moving parts while you are at it. Not that big a deal to remove it.
r
r
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 6,422
Likes: 591
From: McHenry Illinois
I'm trying to do that in my '76, but my Wilcox instructions say, "simply slide the driveshaft forward..." My car has NEVER understood "simply" and now she refuses to "slide." Any suggesstions how I get the front yoke to "slide" into the trans? (...and when you say, "dropped the rear" do you mean un-doing it from the spring?
Tim
Tim
Safety Car
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 3,713
Likes: 550
From: Seattle Washington
The right way to fix the rear seal is to pull the rear. Yes you will get your hands dirty but you can install the seal properly, tilt it overnight to check for leaks and also check universals and side shaft seals and a lot of other moving parts while you are at it. Not that big a deal to remove it.
r
r
Considering that the Torque of the Nut has a direct effect on the set up of the Ring and Pinion I can't possibly see doing it in the Car. Sure if You Mark and put the Nut exactly back in the same spot it should work as before. Since all the Bushings holding the rear end in are probably as old as the seal what is there to loose by removing it. Just the effort to remove the Drive Line is about equal to removing the Pumpkin. When You remove the Pumpkin the Driveline comes out with it.
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 1,524
Likes: 61
From: Medina Ohio
Nope. Just pointing it out as a lot of time it is an "oops" from the person who brought it back to life. Especially since his post was a question to the conversation from 2009.
If he got his answer, great. But, usually if you have a question, not just a comment, to a post from 2009, forum etiquette would be to start a new thread. So, I assumed the thread date was not noticed and decided to point it out.
If he got his answer, great. But, usually if you have a question, not just a comment, to a post from 2009, forum etiquette would be to start a new thread. So, I assumed the thread date was not noticed and decided to point it out.
5th Gear
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
From: norwood ma
thanx
Nope. Just pointing it out as a lot of time it is an "oops" from the person who brought it back to life. Especially since his post was a question to the conversation from 2009.
If he got his answer, great. But, usually if you have a question, not just a comment, to a post from 2009, forum etiquette would be to start a new thread. So, I assumed the thread date was not noticed and decided to point it out.
If he got his answer, great. But, usually if you have a question, not just a comment, to a post from 2009, forum etiquette would be to start a new thread. So, I assumed the thread date was not noticed and decided to point it out.
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 1,524
Likes: 61
From: Medina Ohio
I never meant to sound cocky or be that guy. I simply wanted to bring to the OPs attention that the thread was from 09 in case he did not catch it. As I said, it seems most times people accidentally bring up old threads but if they'd have known they wouldn't have. Bashcraft, you've been around on here for almost 10 years, I'm sure you've seen it and I know an admin will even close a thread out if it gets going again and off from the original post. Was meant as a friendly reminder, not policing. If the date was known, carry on
(I guess the red and bold didn't help)
1976, 76, c3, corvette, diff, differential, differntial, jacking, oil, pinion, rear, replace, replacement, replacment, seal
