4x4 North

So the other day I extended the insurance on my Jeep. As luck would have it (or rather lack thereof) my front passenger side axle seal went the next day in a bad way.



Getting the old one out was not so bad as my 36mm socket was exactly the right diameter to slide down the axle tube. Still working on how to seat the new seal... it’s located in the CAD housing and there’s no room to just “tap it in”. I wish it was the seal in the other side. At least then I could just remove ring gear and install the new one.


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Use a piece of allthread, readi-rod, whatever, with penny washers locked on the ends with nuts. Then you just crank the nuts out to push the washers apart and ram the seal in.

I might have a pic somewhere but not home... so likely won't find one.

Kinda what I was thinking too. Gonna give it a go in a bit here. Instead of pressing I’m thinking of pulling with the ready rod by putting a 2x4 with a hole in it across the knuckle. Just need to shave a penny washer to the right diameter to pull in the seal


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Yeah, that will work too.

It's nice because you can go slow and adjust it if anything cocks off.

I got it in... after a lot of colourful language and attempts. I went to take a picture of my special seal tooling but my friggen battery died so you’ll have to use your imagination. Not sure what was worse, putting in the seal or trying to manoeuvre the inside axle shaft back into the carrier. Not much room for lifting the shaft to get the splines engaged lol. Now just need to put the rest together but that will be tomorrow’s project. I think I need to find a one piece shaft out of a Cherokee and eliminate this CAD system.


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Honestly I think the ZJ CVs is the way to go for eliminating it. I think it was under $100 for both off Rockauto, and they seem to be as strong as the 760X ujoints. At the very least I've had good luck with them in my Comanche, and the smoothness is nice.

I may have a 1 piece axle around though if you want it.

I like the stock cv axle setups. Cheap and smooth. They are strong enough but should fail before anything else.

So here’s a question. Are the one piece shafts compatible with the older style steering knuckles? They run different unit bearings than the newer ones. When I swapped to the newer 4:10 front diff I had to swap to my older knuckles as it would have cost me an arm and a leg to get all the parts to use the new style ones (bearings were shot and brakes were missing). My old style brakes and unit bearings didn’t bolt up nice.


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Also what years of ZJ to look for if it will work?


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Yeah, they're the same. The only difference in the shafts is if they have the runner on them for the seal on the inner side of the unit bearing. As long as you have unit bearings with sealed bearings (so basically all of them but actual factory OEM from 1988) it does not matter if you have the seal runner or not.

My Comanche is using the ZJ shafts in an 87 housing/knuckles/brakes, but the Timken unit bearings I bought for that year are sealed, so it's fine. The only thing I needed to do was pull the ABS tone ring off the shafts, it's not on super tight so just a big 3 jaw puller is enough. You could split it off too if needed. I think you'd need to do this with an newer ABS shaft and old style knuckles/bearings.

For a ZJ any ZJ year should be the same, so I'd pick 96.

Scott Cee AKA 2drx4 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 06, 2019 10:10 am so basically all of them but actual factory OEM from 1988)

well shit lol. pretty sure mine still need the runners. i'll have a look at them when I go to finish putting shit together. upgrading the bearings might not be a bad idea. I had this great idea to keep my old ones as you can rebuild them, but sealed bearings sounds better

YellowJacket wrote: ↑Sun Oct 06, 2019 10:16 am

Scott Cee AKA 2drx4 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 06, 2019 10:10 am so basically all of them but actual factory OEM from 1988)

well shit lol. pretty sure mine still need the runners. i'll have a look at them when I go to finish putting shit together. upgrading the bearings might not be a bad idea. I had this great idea to keep my old ones as you can rebuild them, but sealed bearings sounds better

They've never been replaced? Or did you repack them?

Replaced them at one point but the replacements still had the seals that needed runners I guess. Looks like they’re pretty cheap on rock auto now though.


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Even if it has the sealed bearing it will still have the seal. It just isn't needed.

Good to know.

Here’s the most ok seal puller money can’t buy




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