vince vette 2

I was wondering how much of a tear down is required to replace the side bearing seals in a Dana 44, specifically can this be down without going inside the unit or does it require a full tear down. I don't need to do this. But it was done several years ago, and I wonder if damage I recently found to one set of the clutch pack retention clips would be a result of poor reassembly. The car is an '80 with a basically stock L82. To see an image of the damage check out my earlier thread .

73racevette

you should be able to change the seals from the outside. They can be difficult to get out, but they should come out with some patience.

vince vette 2

Thanks for the reply. Then my guess would be that the internals of the unit were never tampered with since I bought it with 3 miles on it. I vaguely recall about 3 hours of labor changed vs. the 8 hours the dealer wanted. My guess would be the dealer intended to replace the bearings and seals as I could see that being and 8 hour job. But the shop I opted to take it to, which was another dealer's used car shop, just did the seals. So the broken clips are not an issue of poor repair, just a general issue of the poor Dana 44 design or original assembly.

rklessdriver

You will have to do quite a bit of work to remove the side seals in a D44 in the car.... but since you already have the rear out of the car, it shouldn't be that big of a job.

Remove the Retaining Clips for the Inner Stub Shafts. Remove the Inner Stub Shafts.

Then you can remove and replace the Side Seals.
Will