Ahh damn, my rear axle seals are leaking?

I appreciate the response and detailed explanation. This is solid stuff!

All this is super foreign to me, buuuut I’ll figure it out!

 

This is grade A bullshit. As someone who's used Timmah's method on many many different axles seals, you can reuse the parts without a chisel.

 

You guys really should get a FSM before you call BS. When pressing off the retainer and if it galls or scratches the axle shaft surface then there will be a leak.
Grinding and cracking the retainer with a chisel relieves the press fit.

This is a picture of prior hack job on a axle I finally fixed. Took several attempts with new seals and brake shoes before discovering the issue.


Finally got it oil tight with some gear oil sealant before pressing the retainer.

 

The axles are made with a grade of steel much harder than the retainers or ABS tone rings. These axles take no damage when you're pulling the parts off. And, using some logic, if you're saying the axle can take damage when you pull the parts off, that means the axles should take damage when you're pressing the parts on. So, should we also cut off the bearings too? They're a press fit as well. Please use better logic when trying to give advice on this forum. I bet big money the damage that happened to the axles you were working on was not from pulling off the retainers or tone rings. I've done this job over a dozen times and the axles don't sustain damage when those parts are pulled off with the special tool.

What I will admit is my suggestion of reusing all 4 retainers is flawed. I found out that the inside diameter of the retainers do sustain some damage when they come off the axle. There's some slight grooving that happens which is a potential pathway for gear oil to get past the seal. So, I no longer suggest reusing retainers at the inner position but you can absolutely reuse the outer retainers because they are just place holders for the bearings. So, you can reuse 2 or the 4 retainers and reuse both ABS tone rings. If you cut the parts off or a combination of cutting and chiseling, you're asking for a disaster to happen. There's been lots of guys showing the damage a shop caused to their axles because they weren't careful with the cutting procedure. When you pull the parts off, there's zero chance of damaging the axle shaft.

 

Just did this over the weekend on a first gen. Pulled everything off without issue. New bearing kit came with one new press-on retainer/outer oil seal. Reused tone ring and inner retainer. Everything pressed back on very tight. I have zero worries this will become a problem. This is the third set I have done/helped with. 2 T4Rs and this 1st gen. Not a clean or super easy job. Hence the price for the dealer to do it...

 

I agree the tone ring is a pretty soft metal but the retainer is pretty hard. More like a bearing race in hardness. And no I have never had to grind and chisel to press off a bearing. I think chiseling is suggested for extreme cases. Like pushing hard with 20 or more ton press and it still isn't moving.

 

I've seen the retainers take damage on removal but the axle shaft is not grooved in the least bit. The hardness of the axle metal has be a lot more than the bearing races, retainers or ABS tone rings. No way anyone is going to convince me the right method is taking a cutting wheel and chisel to these axle parts. If the bearing can be pressed off the axle shaft, so can the tone rings and retainers.

Another way to think about this is rebuilding anything with bearings, like a 5 speed transmission. Nobody is cutting bearings off shafts. They use some type of puller or a press to get the bearings off.

 

The cutting method is used if you are using the POUNDING method for removal. Bashing the spline end of the axle shaft into the ground/concrete/board/plate can drive the bearing and retainers off, but only if you cut the retainer and tone ring. If you dont, there is too much friction to bash it off. I saw this done and cringed. Pulling/pressing with a tool and press yields good results with parts that can be saved and reused, as I have done multiple times with long term success.

 

I guess some guys will take their fsm to the grave. You know what else will relieve the press fit? Besides grinding and cracking with a chisel? A PRESS.