Front Diff Pinion Oil Seal replacement

[Jimmy96er]

How do I go about removing the front driveshaft (with CV joint - Type 3) on my 97 Grand cherokee? The front diff pinion oil seal is leaking and Im stumped on how to go about removing the front driveshaft. The Haynes manual doesnt really show exactly how to go about doing this. Can someone help me out?

- Do I have to remove the front driveshaft from the other end (transfercase end)?
- Does the front driveshaft with CV joint just pry out? or do I have to remove the axle flange bolts in order to remove the driveshaft from the front diff?

[Jimmy96er]

Someone here must know how to go about removing the front driveshaft (CV type) off the front differencial???

[dksob81]

Remove all 4 bolts from the rear (transfer Case End), remove all (6 or 8, can't remember exactly) bolts from the CV (axle) end, then you will have top use a pry bar and pry the transfer case end out and up to clear t-case, then you should be able to pop the CV joint end out of the front axle. then you will see the pinion nut.

From my pics it shows that the pinion yoke is just an enclosure cap, nit a regular CV Houing like an axleshaft would be. Remember to mark the relationship of the Flange and yoke (enclosure cap), enclosure cap and pinion shaft, and the u-joint and the pinion yoke (on the transfer case end.

[Jimmy96er]

Originally Posted by dksob81

Remove all 4 bolts from the rear (transfer Case End), remove all (6 or 8, can't remember exactly) bolts from the CV (axle) end, then you will have top use a pry bar and pry the transfer case end out and up to clear t-case, then you should be able to pop the CV joint end out of the front axle. then you will see the pinion nut.

From my pics it shows that the pinion yoke is just an enclosure cap, nit a regular CV Houing like an axleshaft would be. Remember to mark the relationship of the Flange and yoke (enclosure cap), enclosure cap and pinion shaft, and the u-joint and the pinion yoke (on the transfer case end.

Thanks for the info!

Is it required that I remove the whole front driveshaft to do the front diff pinion seal? or can I just remove the 8 bolts from the axle end to have access to the pinion nut??

[dksob81]

you should be able to just remove the front end of the driveshaft.

[Jimmy96er]

Originally Posted by dksob81

you should be able to just remove the front end of the driveshaft.

So I did it yesterday and turns out that although the CV joint telescopes, its not far enough to clear the housing so I had to remove the whole front driveshaft. Nontheless I was able to do it without any problems... I just hope I tightened the pinion nut as much as how tight I removed it.,