My inner axle seal experience started when I pulled half of the seal out with my driver’s side axle during a ball joint install. You can read the back story here:
Part ID, and how screwed am I?
https://wayalife.com/showthread.php?t=54031
I ran to the dealer and bought the vin specific replacement seals seeming like that was the right thing to do for my ‘16 JKUR. The seals were exactly the same as the one that came apart on my axle and was completely stuck to it. I needed to split it with a hacksaw and hammer it off.
Pretty easy to see something isn’t right there. Well I installed the same seals again taking a chance and had a real tough time getting my axles back in through them (ten factory chromoly). A little driving around town and I thought everything was good until I parked on a down hill and came out to find diff fluid basically running out of the axle.
I started researching different seal options and found references to a few older designs and decided to hit the dealer to see what they had. I had them run a few part numbers and left with 2 older seals. According to the parts guy, Jeep apparently switched from these to the new two piece designs for the jk in 2013. As soon as I saw them I knew the old design was the way to go.
The new two piece design is on the left and the older one piece is on the right. Notice the inside of the new design is hard metal and has no give to it at all. The older seal is pliable rubber with a spring collar. I was convinced this was the way to go for aftermarket shafts.
New, metal seal on left and older rubber seal on right:
Test fit of newer seal on my ten factory shaft. You can see that the seal bumps the first shoulder of the shaft and gets stuck. There’s no play in it at all and this is why it gets jammed. The second time I opened my diff, the replacement seal was pushed into the housing from the shaft not fitting through it correctly:
Older rubber seal slides right on with a firm fit but conforms:
Side view of new seal on left, old on right:
Maybe someone knows why jeep switched the design but it doesn’t seem to make sense to me. The shaft fit has no room for variance at all and when you pull the shaft, if the new seal is too tight, it’s getting ripped out from the housing and then you’re screwed as it comes out still on the shaft.
So initial driving is showing no leaks with the older seals installed and I’ve been leaving my Jeep parked on crazy angles to test it. Hopefully they stay solid. Just thought I’d put this info out there for anyone that’s having issues and wants to try a different solution. Maybe I’m the only one? lol
Sent from my iPhone using WAYALIFE mobile app
Part ID, and how screwed am I?
https://wayalife.com/showthread.php?t=54031
I ran to the dealer and bought the vin specific replacement seals seeming like that was the right thing to do for my ‘16 JKUR. The seals were exactly the same as the one that came apart on my axle and was completely stuck to it. I needed to split it with a hacksaw and hammer it off.
Pretty easy to see something isn’t right there. Well I installed the same seals again taking a chance and had a real tough time getting my axles back in through them (ten factory chromoly). A little driving around town and I thought everything was good until I parked on a down hill and came out to find diff fluid basically running out of the axle.
I started researching different seal options and found references to a few older designs and decided to hit the dealer to see what they had. I had them run a few part numbers and left with 2 older seals. According to the parts guy, Jeep apparently switched from these to the new two piece designs for the jk in 2013. As soon as I saw them I knew the old design was the way to go.
The new two piece design is on the left and the older one piece is on the right. Notice the inside of the new design is hard metal and has no give to it at all. The older seal is pliable rubber with a spring collar. I was convinced this was the way to go for aftermarket shafts.
New, metal seal on left and older rubber seal on right:
Test fit of newer seal on my ten factory shaft. You can see that the seal bumps the first shoulder of the shaft and gets stuck. There’s no play in it at all and this is why it gets jammed. The second time I opened my diff, the replacement seal was pushed into the housing from the shaft not fitting through it correctly:
Older rubber seal slides right on with a firm fit but conforms:
Side view of new seal on left, old on right:
Maybe someone knows why jeep switched the design but it doesn’t seem to make sense to me. The shaft fit has no room for variance at all and when you pull the shaft, if the new seal is too tight, it’s getting ripped out from the housing and then you’re screwed as it comes out still on the shaft.
So initial driving is showing no leaks with the older seals installed and I’ve been leaving my Jeep parked on crazy angles to test it. Hopefully they stay solid. Just thought I’d put this info out there for anyone that’s having issues and wants to try a different solution. Maybe I’m the only one? lol
Sent from my iPhone using WAYALIFE mobile app
