DANA 30 PASSENGER AXLE SEAL REPLACEMENT Rev 1
BY FRED BRITT
Jack up front of Jeep and remove wheel. Place jack stand somewhere under the vehicle.
Remove cotter key from axle.
Remove Axle Nut and washer.
Remove the 2 brake caliper bolts and remove caliper. You will have to pry the pads apart
(pushing the piston in) for easy removal and installation when ready.
Loosen the 3- 13MM bolts from hub, do not remove them 100%, leave them threaded into the
hub.
If hub is stuck, place socket onto the hub bolts and tap with hammer. Tap on each one equally
until hub breaks loose. Do not hit the bolt heads directly with a hammer, you will damage the
heads of the bolts by doing so. That is why you tap on the socket. In my case, I had the hub off
before and I applied grease to the hub so disassembly will be easy next time.
Remove hub and dust shield. In some cases the outer axle shaft is frozen to the inside of the hub.
So when the hub is pulled out of the spindle, it all comes together (hub and axle). That’s ok, but
is not the way it’s supposed to be. I would recommend getting the axle out of the hub assembly.
Before you go back with it. The reason why, if you wheeling out in the woods and had to replace
the axle U-joint, axle or hub, you will have to deal with it being frozen all together and you
might not have the tools to deal with it. So if you have an axle frozen to the hub, try some liquid
wrench and let it soak. Might put the axle nut back on and try tapping on the nut lightly – do not
damage the threads. Also might try a punch in the middle of the axle to make sure you don’t
damage the threads.
Now pull out outer axle.
Remove the 4 10MM bolts that holds CAD system to axle.
To begin with, something caused the axle seal to start leaking. More than likely the inner axle
bushing is worn out. After you pull the outer axle, check the inner bushing for wear by pulling
the inner axle back and forth and up and down to check for movement. In my case, I had
movement up and down. This will cause the axle to be off center of the seal which will make it
leak. I have done 4 of these on different YJ’s. Some use a roller bearing and some use a fiber
bushing. If you don’t replace this bearing if worn, you are wasting your time putting a new seal
in.
Remove the old outer axle seal. I use a long screw driver with a ½” socket extension. Place the
screw driver against the seal, place the extension on the screw driver head and tapped it out.
Now remove the inner axle. You can now see the inner bushing or bearing. Note the circles, if
you look close, you can see more material at the top than the bottom. Inner axle was not running
true do to the wear which caused the seal to leak.
To remove bushing, I used an all thread rod with a big lip nut.
Slide the rod in so the lip of the nut is behind the inner bushing, I attached vice grips on the other
end of the rod and tapped on the vice grips with a hammer until the bushing came out.
Now you can see the difference between a new one and the worn out one.
The installation of the new bushing is easy. I took the same rod, reverse the nut and used a big
washer to tap the new one in.
Next step is to clean the axle tube. Take some rags and pull them through the tube to get it clean.
Once tube is clean, grease the bushing and inner axle. Install inner axle.
Now for the seal installation. Since we own a few YJ’s, and after tearing up several new seals
and spending hours and hours trying to use a washer, socket rigging, we decided years ago, just
spend the money and buy the seal tool. Hours will turn into minutes. It only took 1 minute to pull
the seal in with this tool.
Axle seal tool: http://quad4x4.com/Front%20Axle%20Shaft%20Seal%20Tools.htm
I placed a little RTV around the outer part of the seal (red area). Placed the seal with tool into the
CAD housing, then ran the all thread rod through the tool, installed the nuts and then pull the seal
into place.
Before installing the outer shaft, there is one more bearing to check. It is located in the rear of
outer axle shaft. If it’s bad – you will need to replace it. In my case, it looked in good condition,
so I put a little grease in it.
Install the CAD shift collar onto the inner axle. Install the outer axle into the tube. Slide the lock
collar back and forth to make sure you have a smooth operation. Place some RTV on the mating
surface of the CAD shift cover and reinstall. Make sure the shift fork goes into the collar.
Tighten the 4 10MM bolts.
I like things to come apart easy if you have to replace a hub bearing or axle out in the field. I put
wheel bearing grease onto the hub area where it fits into the spindle. So if you had problem
separating the hub from the spindle in the first steps, this will solve your problem on the next
disassembly. Also if you had an axle that was frozen to the hub assembly, this should prevent it
from happening again.
Now place the hub and dust shield onto the spindle. MAKE SURE THE SHIELD IS ON
CORRECT. I always put that crazy thing on backwards where you cannot put the rotor back on.
So hub on, hub off, and start over. So be sure it’s facing the correct way.
Once hub is on the spindle, line up the holes and install the 3 bolts. I always put grease on the
threads so they will not freeze up, so future disassemblies will be easy. Book calls for 75 ft-lbs.
Now install the axle nut and cotter pin. Books calls for 175 ft-lbs.
Install the rotor and caliper. Step on the brakes a few time to push the pads back against the
rotor.
Check gear lube in housing to make sure it’s the correct level.
The Parts you will need:
Seal: Crown 83503504
Inner Axle Bushing: 5252687
Outer Axle end bearing: 5252686
Seal Installation Tools = OPTION
Successfully installing a CAD axle shaft seal without the correct Seal Installer has about the
same chance of success as buying a winning lottery ticket. Makeshift methods don't usually get
the job done due to the restricted area you need to work in, and the amount of compression
needed. I bit the bullet and bought the tools and you will not regret it. You can also help others
by renting the tool out to get your money back if needed. I did the washer and makeshift stuff. I
spent hours trying to install it correctly. At times I would go through 3 new seals before it was
installed correctly. With the right tool, you can have a new seal pressed in less than 60 seconds.
If you decide to buy the tools, here is what you will need.
QT1080 CAD Side Seal Installer $44.97 - makes installing the QU40098 Right Axle Shaft Seal
on 1987-1996 Jeep Cherokee (XJ) and Wrangler (YJ) front axles with vacuum controlled
Central Axle Disconnect (CAD) easy. Made to fit the original NOK seal (Jeep p/n 83503504)
1/2" center
QT1196 Axle End Plate $34.97 Triple step plate for 1984-1996 Jeeps with CAD fits both small
and large ID axle tubes. 1/2" ID center hole
All Thread Rod and Nuts = Local hardware store.