I have an oil seal leak and a pinion seal leak on my front axle (Dana 30) how difficult is it to rebuild this axle? The local shop wants to charge me $550 to rebuild it for me.

 

Axle seals: http://jeep-xj.info/HowtoD30AxlesSeals.htm

Pinion seal: https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f51/xj...acement-43429/

No way I'd pay $550. Axle oil seals are something like 2-3 hours by the book.

Since basically the whole thing has to come apart consider other replaceables based on their condition and your budget. Such as hub bearings, brake components, ball joints. At any rate seals themselves are pretty cheap.

 

Maybe I'll buy an axle from the junkyard and rebuild it completely over the winter...

 

It's certainly easy to do all of this work with the axle out of the vehicle, but honestly I'd only really consider that if I was looking at replacing ball joints. Seals are something I'd do in an afternoon and I am by no means professional (barely competent is a start )

If you do decide to go that route though, a full rebuild is the way to go with new bearings, U joints, seals, and ball joints. You may be able to find one locally on Craigslist or through the regional For Sale section of this forum. Junkyard pricing varies a lot, up here the local joint wants like $300 for a rusty axle that's been sitting in the mud for years.