So I finally got around to replacing my axle seals today...well attempting to...My Jeep is a 90 Cherokee, It HAS the disconnect, but the PO removed it and took out the two piece shaft and replaced it with a one piece shaft. So I ordered two of these:

Timken 710068


Driver side worked flawlessly, few whacks and it was in!

Passenger side did not budge... So I was thinking well, I need to buy the passenger side with disconnect. I go to NAPA and they suggest this part:

Omix-Ada OAI16526.03


But, that part is too large, just like the first one... The seal I need looks just like the first one but without the metal casing and flange. The image below is of the same first picture (Timken 711068) but a different view, looks as if there a plastic piece and its surrounded by this metal casing with a flange (although metal casing cannot be removed)


I thought maybe that it some how got separated and the metal piece was still inside the axle shaft, but its not. Does anyone have any idea what seal I need? The old seal appears to be in okay shape and i put it back in but Id rather find a new part to use...

Also, while removing the old seals I broke off something inside the axle shaft housing....

Here is what my shaft looks like



Notice the shiny part in the middle of the picture...

I believe what broke off inside of the housing is part of the old vac disconnect that this shaft might have been placed through





Any ideas if that piece is something important? I think its just part of the old vac disco but not 100% sure.

Please help! I've been itching to drive my Jeep and I thought I could get it fixed up today but now I'm stumped!

Thanks for any ideas/input/advice.

Jake

Is there a number on the old seal? There usually is, though it can be hard to see sometimes.

I have no idea what that broken part is but it doesn't look like anything out of the vacuum disco. As far as the seal, I don't believe it matters if the vac disco has been removed or not, unless the axle tube was modified, the seal should be the same whether there's a disco or not. The seal you need is this...



It is a royal pain to get that seal in. I had to make a press out of some custom machined washers and 5/8ths threaded rod (after tacoing three of the damned things at $15 a pop). The seal has to go in perfectly straight and whoever engineered the stupid thing left a pressing surface of about .5mm on the seal. The press worked great, though. Pulled it right in.

That mystery part is plastic, yes? I suspect the PO forgot something in the diff before buttoning it up. As far as I know, there is nothing made of plastic in the axle.

Yes, the mystery part is plastic.

Also the orange seal shows up as the correct part # but when I match it up to the previous seal, it is much larger.

Just removed the old part

Numbers on seal:

SBY
NAK
1.192
2.122
.350










The driver side seal went in with no issue what so ever, I lined it up with a 34mm socket and had extensions and my buddy hit it with a mallet a few times and presto. and with this one he hit it several times and it didn't budge...

Sorry, you're right. It seems I somehow skipped over the part where you mentioned the PO replaced the 2-piece axle with a 1-piece. The 2-piece flares to a much larger diameter to mate with the intermediate shaft at the disco. So what you need is a seal with the OD of the original and an ID of the 1-piece axle. It might be difficult to find a hybrid seal but maybe someone knows more about this than I.

I still think that plastic thing is something the PO forgot in the diff and not part of the axle.

Take that seal with you to the parts house,the numbers are the size of the outside,inside,thickness of the seal

I did a little research and it looks like this might be the seal you need.

http://eastcoastgearsupply.com/i-7139411-dana-30-inner-axle-seal-one-piece-axle-conversion-2-0.html


Judging by the condition of that seal, it wasn't the correct size to begin with. You may need to break out the calipers to be sure.

Typing from my phone right now, so its hard to quote.

F1Addict - my concerns, looks different than the old seal and the numbers don't match the old seal, but it does sound correct.

BMAC6642 - those numbers are same e specs of the timken parts I ordered but it doesn't look the same, it doesn't have the flange AMD the timken ones are larger than my old one

I'm not sure if there are markings on the axle, it's likely a 1-piece from a Select-Track D30 since that is the most common conversion axle but the only way to know for sure that you're getting the correct seal is to use calipers to measure the axle tube mating surface diameter [OD] and the axle diameter [ID].

Because there are two possible ODs (2.00 and 2.062) you should probably measure the axle tube diameter, anyway. Notice that there are no D30s with a disco seal diameter of 2.122, which is what your old seal was. That might explain its condition.

Well, I've been needing an excuse to buy a caliper so I guess noes my chance haha

There is, apparently, a way to tell by the axle tube ID but I have no idea how to do this and suspect no one else does either so calipers it is.

telescoping bore gauge?

A bore gauge might also work but I'm not sure how easy it would be to get them in through the vac disco opening.