Dang Retaining Ring

[JRBAMATEX]

I have begun the Front Axle Service. I have all all torn apart now and the old seal pushed back into the axle. It's been a whale of a morning. NOW I can't get the DANG retaining ring out. I used a six inch gear puller with the grabber fingers turnd out and leveraged it against a peice of 1" angle iron that I had acros the axle housing. I got good grip on the Retainer but just smoke the peice of angle into a bent up mess. So I went down to pep boys looking for a slide hammer they had one but it said it was good for light duty trucks. My application is a little more "Heavy Duty" So I opted to save the $100 and keep trying to figure something out on my own. Does anyone have any ideas short of taking the other wheel off and axle out and hammering on a rod from the other side. The wife is already a little worried about me haveing one side off. She is going to freak if she comes home this afternoon and I have the other side off.

 

[JRBAMATEX]

I bought the slide hammer. Wish me luck.

 

[JRBAMATEX]

SLIDE HAMMER GOOD!!!!!

 

[cranetruck]

The easiest method is to work from the opposite side. I used a 1 inch dia rod, which will go through the differential. Just push the seal right out.
(It should be in the article, I did send it to you, right?)

 

[Recovry4x4]

My slide hammer with the hook pops them out wthout haste!

 

[JRBAMATEX]

I was almost to the place in the movie where I would go down the path Bjorn mentioned in his article. However, the boys down at NAPA talked me into the slide hammer. Theirs was $70 instead of the Pep Boy $100 special. Besides it's cooler to have NAPA on the case than Pep Boys. Anyway within about 5 or 6 Slides it was out no problem.

I will say this though. This is a little bigger job than I was expecting. Maybe just because of the frustration of not having the proper tool. It was all going fine until I got to the retainer.

All my pieces are clean now and it is all ready for re-assembly. Just need to rebuild the wheel cylinder and put it all back together. Oh yeah. Now that I am in this deep it looks like some new break hoses wouldn’t hurt so I gotta get those. Is there a good NAPA part number to replace them with?

Thanks for everything guys.

 

[Recovry4x4]

JR, are the wheel cylinders still on the truck? I rebuild mine right in place. BTW, did you find Ujpoint axles?

 

[Boatcarpenter]

This is what m35a2cowner posted on Mar. 6 in a thread I posted about front flexible brake lines.

"HA! And women think that never throwing anything away is a fault. The part number of the ones that fit my truck is NAPA 4751. Not sure what it originally fit but the length and ends are correct. It would be a good idea to inquire as to the working pressures to see if it matches the originals.

Cranetruck posted that pressures are 500 no air and 1800-2000 with air.


Good Luck!

 

[MATT]

When you say retaining ring, you also mean inner axle seal right? I am trying to picture a retaining ring(sap ring of some sort)?

 

[MATT]

I actually made a tool that goes through the diff like what was mentioned to knock the seals out. It also can unscrew in the middle for better storage. Works well too but I like the slide hammer idea as well.

 

[JRBAMATEX]

Kenny, I actually took the wheel cylinders off and checked them out. They looked brand new. So they went back together and will go back on the truck with a new flex break hose/line.

The retaining ring is up inside the axle housing. It holds a seal that separates the gear oil in the axle from the grease in the hub.

The U-joints looked great. In fact everything looks pretty good. The seal that the hub sets in next to the spindle flange looks like it could be replaced so it's good that I have one.

I think what has happened is that when I got the truck I pressure washed the snot out of everything under and on the truck. Mostly to find places where I needed to repair leaks. In the process I created a leak by washing the sealant goo off the zippers on the axle boots. So I gotta figure out what that goo is and get some. I don’t think I am going to do the other side for a few months. It has a dry boot and seems normal. I have the parts when I get ready.

One thing I have found though is a lot of loose nuts and bolts. I am going to go over my whole truck checking the tightness of everything I can get to. If you have not done this to your truck please do. The first loose nuts I found were my LUG NUTS! Please check out you whole truck personally. I had mine checked by a diesel shop and they told me everything was fine. It isn’t. Yet……

 

[SixBuy]

I asked the same question a few months ago about sealing the boot zippers and the consensus leaned toward "Goop". I bought some but haven't changed the boot yet. Silicone RTV was running a close second...
Yeah, Slide Hammers are Gods gift to the DIY!
Good luck.

 

[red devils dude]

that "goop" you need is the "Amazing GOOP" http://eclecticproducts.com/ you can pick it
up at NAPA where the epoxy, glue etc is.

 

[m.walker]

Yeah the GOOP's much more sturdy than silicone!