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To One Piece or Not?

FudgieB

New member
City
Tampa
State
FL
So I noticed some seeping on my rear diff where it connects to the driveshaft. The pinion seals have likely went bad and I replace both the inner and outer seals. From my understanding in order to do this I must pull the axels to get access to the inner seal. So my thought is with everything already torn apart, should I replace the axels with one piece axels?

I guess some things to consider, while I plan on putting 33’s, there is a slim chance I go with 35’s. But I don’t really plan on any real off roading. Clearly this was not something planned for in cost so I’m struggling with is it worth the extra money and time. Is there a huge reliability increase? Does it make sense as very little more work if I have to replace those seals anyway?
 

CJ7Pilot

18436572
BENEFACTOR
Gold Member
Lifetime Member
SOA Member
City
Yuba City
State
CA
You should absolutely replace the two-piece axles with one-piece axles. It's only a matter of time before one of the old flanges comes loose (especially with oversized tires), and it most likely won't be convenient when it does.

Frankly, I'm amazed at how many original axles are still holding up after 30-40 years of use!
 

Spieg

Scrambler Junkie
Lifetime Member
City
Aurora
State
CO
I used to spin 2-piece shafts with 31" tires. I would replace them with 1-piece while you have it apart even if you're planning on stock size tires (or better yet go with full floating if you can).
 

Randyzzz

Blown Budget
BENEFACTOR
Gold Member
Lifetime Member
SOA Member
City
Redmond
State
OR
So I noticed some seeping on my rear diff where it connects to the driveshaft. The pinion seals have likely went bad and I replace both the inner and outer seals. From my understanding in order to do this I must pull the axels to get access to the inner seal. So my thought is with everything already torn apart, should I replace the axels with one piece axels?

I guess some things to consider, while I plan on putting 33’s, there is a slim chance I go with 35’s. But I don’t really plan on any real off roading. Clearly this was not something planned for in cost so I’m struggling with is it worth the extra money and time. Is there a huge reliability increase? Does it make sense as very little more work if I have to replace those seals anyway?
I thought there was only an outer seal on the pinion. Just pull the yoke, replace the seal, and reinstall the yoke (trickiest part, crush sleeve). No need to pull the axles. But-one piece axles are a needed upgrade.
 
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