inner axle seal replacement...

So I just replaced the U joints on my dana 30 axle shafts because they were really bad. Put everything back in, tried to be super careful about putting the shaft back in but lo and behold once I start driving, it's puking everywhere. So tomorrow I'm going to pull them again, and replace my seals. From what I understand I need to pull the carrier which blows.

Any tips and tricks for getting in the new axle shafts without blowing out the seals again?

I think where I went wrong was I forgot to take out the old axle shaft guides and they didn't come out with the shaft, so that might've been what messed with my seals, either that or I'm just an idiot..

It's not hard to do at all so don't phyc yourself out. To put the shafts back it just go slow and be sure to clean out the inside of the axle tube as well as you can before re installing the shafts incase you bump the inside you won't pick up a ton of dirt. There's a write up in the write up section.

I found a 1/2" drive socket that fit the inside of the seal really well and then bought some 1/2" all thread that was long enough to reach from the outer end of the tube to the seal. I then cut a 2x4 just long enough to go across the end of the axle tube and drilled a hole through it for the all thread. Put the all thread through the board with a washer and nut and stick it into your axle tube far enough to reach the inside of the housing. Next put your seal, socket, and another washer and nut on from the inside. Tighten everything up and be sure the all thread on the outer end is centered in the tube. Watch the seal as you slowly tighten the nut on the all thread. You'll know when the seal bottoms out. I also coated the seal in rtv where it mates up against the housing.

When you reinstall the shafts, turn them so the stub shaft is pointing straight down. This gives you leverage on the shaft and allows you to get it up enough towards the end to go through the seal and into the diff.

All thread and washers work great.