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Front Axle Seal Replacement

14K views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  Black05 
#1 ·
The driver's side front axle tube seal/dust boot needs replacing. The outer rubber part has separated from the inner part that is on the output yoke on the driver's side. It appears that you can take off the caliper, caliper bracket, rotor, and four nuts holding the hubassembly to the steering knuckle, and then the whole hub assembly with the u-joints and yoke will slide out of the axle tube so that the seal/dust boot can be replaced. Am I correct on this? Also, what are the torque values on the caliper bracket bolts and 4 hubassembly retaining nuts? Finally, what is the part number for the seal?

Thanks in advance for assistance.
 
#3 ·
Greg -- Thanks for the advice. I had reached the same conclusion after looking at an exploded diagram of the front differential. It appears that the seal (#1175) is down in the axle tube butted up against a collar on the shaft. Would you recommend cleaning out the space between the yoke and internal seal to get whatever dust and debris accumulates, or is this unnecessary?

I also understand that you cannot replace just the dust boot -- it is part of the entire axle assembly (which is a bit pricey).
 
#4 ·
You can get just the dust boot, but like Greg said, it only keeps dirt out... not fluid in. Incase you don't know what you may be getting into, the differential needs to be removed from the axle to get the seals out... at which time you could pressure wash the oil out of the tube if you so desire.
 
#5 ·
Alexb -- I would have thought you could have gotten the dust boot separately, but it's not the case. The Ford parts diagram for the front differential shows this as part of the axle shaft assembly -- not a separate part. My local auto parts shop showed no listing for it.
 
#6 ·
You can replace the dust seal. Here is a an excerpt from an article on this site.

"First you will need to replace the two seals on the axle shaft. The larger is on the outside and is Ford part number F81Z-3254-CB and will cost about $30.00. The smaller one is a dust seal on the inside and is Ford part number F81Z-1S175-HCA, around $15.00. I also found the smaller one is made by National and is part number 710413 at Car Quest, around $7.84. Picture The inside small dust seal can be easily installed by hand. The large outside main seal will require a little more ingenuity."

The entire article
 
#7 ·
Loosewheel -- I had seen this article before. Per the exploded front differential diagram that I got form Ford, the front axle on my 05 is slightly different and has a collar pressed onto the shaft at the half way point (this is for the internal seal to butt up against). There would be no way to get the dust boot over this collar and up to the yoke without tearing up the boot. The Ford parts guy told me that the boot is sold with the new axle shaft as a unit, not separately. The internal seal (#1175 on the diagram) is serviceable separately.
 
#8 ·
Hmmm... I guess yours must be different than the hundreds of axle seals that I've replaced on mono-beams. That "collar" you speak of, is there to help keep the end of the axle up to guide it into the differential case. It can be removed... infact, I don't recall it being pressed on, sometimes they fall off in the tube when you're pulling the axle out... I replace the dust boots on every axle seal job I do.
 
#9 ·
Alexb -- If your correct, then it appears I got some bad information.
 
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