See the attached photo. 1996 XJ aw4 4L 6

Trying to remove and replace the seal (blue)

Unlike all the other posts on the 231 mine seems to be different. The housing seems to be part of another larger part. And then there is the collar. Most posts say to just pry the seal off with a screwdriver or seal puller - the collar is in the way.

1. How does one remove the collar?
2. Do the bolts (green arrows) need to be removed to replace the seal?

I have the drive shaft off and the car is sitting in the driveway so any help would be appreciated.

That certainly looks like a 2WD automatic transmission tail housing from here. If true, then you don't have a 231 (or any other) transfer case. If you don't have a seal puller (to remove) and an appropriately sized length of pipe (to clear the output shaft on installation) then it might be easier for you to remove the tailshaft housing and r&r the seal on the bench.

I kept on telling people I do not think I have a tcase. Yes, it is a 2WD.

I have a seal puller but I have tried pulling it with no avail. Am I just not putting enough shoulder into it? I am already rocking the car doing it so I thought it was best I stop.

I am using this type of seal puller

http://www.matcotools.com/ProductImages/SP56.jpg

Is this type of seal puller good enough?

I can get a pipe from the hardware store.

It seems in order to pull the tailhousing off I have to take the support the trans and remove the support bar. Is this true?

Im wanting to do the same thing

What?
Transmission output shaft seal or transfer case?

Not sure that seal puller will do the trick with the shaft still in place. Pulling the tail shaft housing is definitely the route I would take. I've never had one of those apart though...

While I have not done the repair yet I found in asking around and showing to some who have already done the repair that you have to pull the back housing off. This means in supporting the transmission removing the cross support beam and undoing all the bolts. It is different from a lot of jeeps where one can just pry off the ring.

Also, what I leaned from one of Chrysler's transmission gurus (that is what someone at Chrysler called him - not my label) is that replacing the seal gives some relief for a while but it is really the bushing that needs to be replaced to solve the problem. He stated it is listed as 5 hours of labor so that would be more than dropping the shaft and pulling a ring and seal off the back.

In the photo above I have the tail shaft connected but that was before I pulled it down to see if I could get at the seal.

So, no it is not just more pulling that is needed.

Hope you can get it fixed soon, it sounds like a big job