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Hi all,
planning a clean up and new seals all around on my rear axle, and came across a few questions before I start. I already have 12.012 pinion seal and 12.0315 the seals for the ends of the axels, but what is 12.0341 "Seal-shaft nut oil"? Can I just cut a new gasket for this, or what?
Also, I was planning to also cut myself a gasket for 12.0035 the Diff Carrier to rear axle case, but it looks like this is some sort of seal and not just a paper gasket. What is actually in there?...Hope to open the axel up on sunday, but thought I would try and smarten up before tearing things apart! My drum puller better be up to the task....
Thanks for any tips/advice. (counting the threads and "exact position as before" regarding the pinion seal I am already aware of)
Mike

The 12.0341 seal for the shaft nut is made of leather and is about 3.5 mm thick. You should be able to re-use the old ones.

The gasket between the carrier and the case is a "square" rubber o-ring (one that has a square rather than round cross section). It sits in a groove that is machined in the face of the carrier.

Thanks! I see Max has the seal for 15$. Guess I will look around to find something locally before I order.

Mannn, I didn't even get the drums off! I know this has been discussed before, but you guys think I should use a bigger hammer than this? I was beating on it pretty good tightening the puller, and once in a while giving it a good but not crazy hit parrallel to the axel to try and jostle the drum loose. I left the puller installed, and will check back in a day or so.
I didn't go too nuts on the puller, but was hitting it fairly hard...

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Did you make sure to back off the brake shoes with the star adjuster? Also I remember one guy trying everything to remove his rear drums only to discover later that he had left his parking brake endaged!

If the drums have been on there awhile, rust on the taper could be holding it in place. Keeping hammering away making it tighter and tighter. Eventually it will give, it takes a lot more force that you think it will, especially if the drums have been on the car a long time.

I always leave the axel nut on, but I loosen in all the way out so that it is even with the end of the axel shaft. This gives the drum some room to "pop", but not fly across the room.

The axel nut is still on and will keep it from flying across the shop, and the hand brake is off - the axel isn't even in the chassis, but I did not back off the adjuster. I thought since the wheel spins with no drag, it should be ok, but will back that off as much as I can. The drum did't budge at all, so it must be still on the taper and not hanging on the pads. Should get back to work on The packard on Wed.
Thanks for the advice. -Mike

Allright! I got the drums off with the help of 'Costas the Greek' who works in the garage next to me. It took **A LOT** of hammer swinging, but finally let loose with a bang. The axle nut was on so nothing went flying. Lord knows when the inside of those drums last saw daylight. The brake pads were ok, but the wheel cyls looked questionable. I may replace those while I am in there. The axles came out with a few good tugs.
Is there a way to check if the rear wheel bearings are good? There was oil there, but no grease to speak of. Packing the rear wheel bearings seems to have been neglected.
Also, before I take the diff out of the carrier, do I have to do something with this screw circled in red?

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OK, that is the pedestal set screw, which should have a torque of 2-3 foor pounds when installed. I guesss I just back it out a bit before removing the diff. My hands still smell like Diff oil. I hate that stuff!

That old oil reeks. I was wearing nytril gloves when I replaced my axle bearings and my hands still smelled like that oil for days. I think they were still using gear oils with animal based fats in them. What ever is in it, it smells horrible.

Glad you were able to get the drums off, they will come loose, you just have to keep hammering on them. Figure that they were torqued to around 250ft/lbs when installed and they are effectively "pressed" onto the taper. So add age and rust to the mix, and it takes a lot of "pulling" force to dislodge them.

Packard Dealers would never have had the luxury to let a car sit around until the drum "popped" on it's own from the pressure of the puller on it. Those mechanics would have been trying to get them in and out ASAP. The only way to do that is to beat on the puller like it was designed for.

The next challenge is going to be removing the pinion seal. I will have to look into getting a thin wall socket...The 41 mm 3/4 inch drive socket that I have is way to thick....