Chrysler 8.25 Bearing & Seal Instalation
 

Well ive bin a lurker for a short time on this site and got lots of info on the jeep and help me a lot in modifing my Rig .i desided i should put a thread togeather on how to change rear wheel bearings and seal on a C-clip style Diff .when it came time to replace my bearings i searched in lot of sites on how to change this even though every body is saying its a easy job i just didnt wanted run in to any surprices since my XJ is my daily driver
I should all so add that there was lots of post guys (who are like me new to basic mechanics )asking about how to do this.having said that i put this tech article togeather best of my knowlege and this is my first write up of any sorts so forgive me if i have left any thing out .


OK to start off to do this job you need to have 13mm Socket with ratchet wrench ,5/16 or 8mm 6point wrench (having this wrench will help you not to strip the little bolt that hold the pinion shaft on )or a 6 point 1/4 socket with 1/4 breaker bar,Bearing puller,Seal puller, approx 2.5 Qts of 75-90 Or 80-90 Diff fluid (depending on the Diff)RTV sealant , Tub Of greas ,Anti-Seize and last but not the least wheel bearings and seals (what ever the brand you prefer ),hammer ,Seal Driver (this is great tool to have i just didn't have one or couldn't find one to rent ).more to come post below

Before you jack the rear end up you should loosen the tires off cause to do this job you need to have the rear drums off .now the fun beging use the 13mm socket break open the Diff cover bolts make sure to have a oil catcher under neath just in case .

after you break loose the bolt on the diff cover ,remove the bolts at this time the diff cover should just stay in place ,get a flat head screw driver or a pry bar and pry the cover from the bottom so the fluid will flow just don't go crazy with prying the cover off just ease it out again make sure to have a oil catch pan under it .
your diff should look like this when the cover is off (depends on which 8.25 you have mine is LSD so mine look like this )

at this time i went ahead and loosen the pinion shaft bolt using the 5/16 wrench and pulled out the pinion shaft .so i can get the C-clips out . unfortunately my camera screwed up and deleted some of the pics but i have attached one i found on the web .at this step you should inspect the pinion shaft for scarring and inspect that little bolt as depending on the millage the shaft or the little bolt may need to be replaced .mine looked in good condition so i moved on to the next step .

at this step you should take the rear drums off and firmly push on the axle shaft towards the ring gear you should feel the shaft move about 1/2 inch .now go back under the diff and have little peake you should see the C-clip or Clips just attached or hanging from the axle shaft get a magnet or put your finger in and slide them out

Now grab the axle from which ever the side you are replacing the bearing or seal and pull it out gently it should slide out with minimum effort . now place the axles some where safe last thing you want is a damaged axle. your axle should look like this the pictures i took of my axle was not clear and one has some how managed to get erased :cursing: man i need a new camera. so i borrowed these pics off the web .

Now comes the interesting part, ok assuming you have the axles in a safe place. now you have to pull the seal out,this is where the seal puller comes in handy makes the job much easier (my seal puller was bent to begin with :blush: ) .you have to be care full not to scrape the axle tunnel where the seal seats cause if you were scrape it fluid will leek out of there .Mine was scared by the previous person who did this so i had to put emery cloth the hell out of it and RTV seal the surface before i installed the new seal .SO WATCH OUT WHEN YOU ARE PULING THE SEAL OUT .below in the pic you can see the damage that was done to mine .now i have to keep eye out for the next couple of days :wallbash: .

Now you should be able to see the bearing .make sure to have a catch can under to catch the gear oil that comes out from the diff tubes

now is the time for the bearings .i rented a slide hammer set which came with a bearing puller attachment .there are once you can buy which you have to screw in the slide hammer but renting this kit makes it more easier and this is more HD than the bearing puller set .

after you slide hammer out the bearing :cheers: take a rag and wipe down the rest of the fluid,dust and grime that may be there and inspect the area for damage if all checks out OK move on to re-assembly part ,at this time you need a clean place to work cause there's little bit of prep work to be done . you can see below the old and new bearings and seals .OLD IS ON THE TOP AND NEW BEARING AND SEAL ON THE BOTTOM .now take your old bearing match it up to the new bearing and see it is the right size and such do the same with the seal cause parts place might have given you the wrong part with out them knowing or it could have bin packaged wrong .ok if the parts checks out fine get the tub of grease that you have and apply it on the inside of the bearings (out of the box bearings do come with little grease but better apply a bit more so the bearing wont turn dry until the gear oil gets to the bearing).do the same on the surface where the bearing seats cause when you drive the bearing in it'll drive in bit better .

after the prep work is done ,you are ready to drive the new bearing in to axle housing .so now this is where lots of people use defarant methodes .i just tapped it in with a hammer and using the old bearing to slowly drive the new one in and used punch where it needed (its better to use a bras flat end punch so if you were to hammer it hard it wont damage the new bearing that much) and the biggest socket i had to drive the bearing in rest of the way .

after the bearing seated in (don't worry there's groves cut so you wont drive the bearing all the way in)now its time for the seal ,now on my one i had to clean and hone out the surface so it would have minimal chance of leaking and i applied RTV sealant on surface so it'll seal the rest out before i drove in the seal.
Drive in the new seal you can use a seal driver or in this case i used the old bearing to drive in the seal cause bearing is smaller thanks the bearing.there is a grove cut inside the axle housing so the seal wont get driven long ways .

after you drive in the seal apply little bit of grease on inner lip of the seal so seal want get chewed up when the axles put back on .next is the time to inspect the axle shaft for pitting and scars specially where the bearings and seal meet.and apply some grease on the shaft where bearing and the seal sits . importance of this is that shaft act as a inner sleeve to the bearing .

after the axle prep is done slide the axle in to diff and slowly slide in to pinion gears.after that since i had the rear brake drum of i loobed the shoe contact points so they wont squike i used anti-seize to lube the contacts .after that install the drums and crawl under neath and install the C-clamp and Pinion shaft and bolts (you can leave it as it is if you are doing both sides ).

next clean out both surfaces (Diff and Diff cover) with a scraper and some brake clean .apply some RTV gasket maker on the diff cover and install the cover back on .after tightening the bolts and filling the diff with appropriated fluid double check every thing and put the wheels back on and torque the wheels to proper specs.go for test drive and double check for leeks .
I re-checked the diff fluid level after couple of days to see if it need topping up and re-torque the wheels again.hoe this help for any one who hasn't done bearings on C-clip style rear diff let me know if i have made a error any where on the post .