I've got a 97 surbuban and the trans axle needs the seals changed at the transfer case. Everything says we need a special tool to remove the seal and we have to completely dis-assemble the front end. I want to know if we can just disconnect the axles from the transfer case and drop the transfer case to replace the seals?

Any help would be helpful.

What size sub and what transfer case?
No transaxle on them.
Just front rear end or transfer case.
Which seal are you replacing?
Transfer case front out put?
Or the left or right front rear end out put seals?

Sorry about that.

The front differential of a 1500 series, I don't know the size sub.

The two seals we're looking at replacing are on the output shafts, both driver and passenger.

One appears to be in the axle tube(passenger side) and the other appears to be in the actual differential(drivers side).

From the diagrams, it appears we might be able to disconnect the axles and just drop the front differential, one of the other concerns is the 'special tool' required to pull out the seals.

Again, thank you for any help.

I am doing the same job on my '00 Suburban. It's not too difficult to drop the front differential if you know in advance that you have to remove the steering link to obtain the proper clearance to get it to drop. I don't know if the setup is the same on a '97. As it turns out, you can remove the inner axle shafts with the differential still on the car, but with some of the mounting bolts removed. At that point, prying the output shaft seals out isn't difficult if you have a seal puller or a heavy-duty screw driver.