Chevy & GMC Vans

Ok, I am back from a not very restful vacation. Came home to find our fridge must have died shortly after we left so our house had a rather funky smell from the rotten food in there.

Anyway, I am hoping to get the rear axle seal done this week. Looking at autozone and haynes it looks like a pretty straight forward job. Basically it sounds like I need to purchase two new seals and a new pinion shaft lock bolt and oil to refill the diff afterward.

Now my questions, before even crawling under. Are there any things that might catch me unaware on this? I would assume removing the bolts on the diff cover will be difficult. I doubt they have been touched in a long time. Also, I saw that I need to fill it with the van level. My driveway is not level, but I could probably get the van level, or pretty close to level with some creative jacking and placing both front and rear up on stands. I have enough to do so since I have 4 6-ton stands and 4 3-ton stands. Not having looked, where do I re-fill the diff with oil and how difficult should I expect the fill cap to be to get out?

I would guess that a good amount of soaking in a good penetrating oil (I will have to get more as I am running low) for a while before hand would help with all of this as well.

While I am in there, is there anything else I should check? I was looking at what is needed to do the bearings, and that is not a job I look forward to doing both because I have nothing to pull them and I don't have anything to drive them back in.

Anyway, any help or suggestions before I get under there would be appreciated.

The plug to check the level of fluid and to refill it from is on the front pass side of the diff housing. It's towards the top. Can be hard to find ( took me an hour) Finally found it after I scraped all the gunk off the diff as it sits flush.. It has a square in it that you insert a half inch drive (IIRC) ratchet extension ( attached to the ratchet of course) to un screw it. Can't remember the exact capacity but you fill it till you can stick your finger straight in the hole and feel fluid aka to the bottom of the hole.

Make sure the fill plug comes out first! It is a 3/8" square. I use a 6" extension on a ratchet and that usually will allow me to remove them. If it doesn't come out, some heat will need to be applied BEFORE you strip it out. Once the fill plug is loose, you can go ahead and pull the cover and drain. The pinion shaft bolt can be re-used. Make sure to put lock-tite on it or it can loosen up over time. The rest of the job is straight forward. I wouldn't worry about the bearings unless you find some pitting or scaling. Fill capacity is around 2-3 quarts. I like to use synthetic as long as I am in there.

Thanks. I had to chuckle at the directions over at autozone. As they give the instructions they constantly give warnings and reminders to not damage the ABS sensor. Then at the end as they give instructions about re-installing everything they have the following, "BE CAREFUL not to damage the wheel bearing seal with the splines on the axle shaft. And, do we even have to mention the SPEED SENSOR again on ABS equipped vehicles!"

The weather here is miserable, but I am hoping for some sun to get at it.

Oh, what do you suggest as to a new gasket for the diff cover?

Don't worry about the ABS speed sensors...your 97 doesn't have any on the axle itself. Use RTV silicone for the gasket. No need for a cork gasket. Just apply it based on the directions.

Thanks Dean. I thought RTV would be what I could use.

As Dean stated, make sure you can get the fill plug out first. For me, this is usually the hardest part of the job. Once you strip it your screwed. If it doesn't break loose be sure to heat it up good to remove. The loctite on the pinion bolt is very important. My came loose on my 92 and trashed my rear. Clean the threads with brake cleaner before applying. Removing the diff cover bolts has always been easy on mine despite how nasty it may look.

So what type of loctite should I use?

I'd use red.

Ok. I will have to buy some then as I am am pretty sure I am all out of red.

Take some pics of this Jim

I will see what I can do. I took a few minutes and got the exhaust on the protege done this evening. Pretty easy job. The clamp was not tight enough, and there was a leak in the part I welded on last time. Cleaned it up, fixed the hole in the weld, tightened up the clamp and then decided I might as well weld the parts together. Cleaned off the rust and welded it. It doesn't look great, but then my welding ability is a work in progress.

The weather doesn't look good for this week, so I may not be able to get to the axle seals, I am hoping I can though.

What can I use to drive the seals in? The suggestion at autozone is the actual tool, haynes says a socket that is the same diameter as the seal but I don't think I have one that big, at least based on the picture in the book. Any other suggestions? I have everything to do it now, and am hoping to get to it a little later today. I'm posting this while we are on the road. Hopefully there will be a suggestion by the time I get home.

A nice flat piece of wood (2x4) or steel plate layed flat against the seal and given a sharp blow with your favorite maximum force tool (hammer)will do it every time. I always put a small amount of sealer on it before it goes in.

Well I started at it, man that fill plug is a pain to get out. I have been working on it for a while. I hit it with the propane torch for a minute or two, but it still wouldn't budge. I came in to have a drink and thought I would post an update.