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I thought that removing the rear axel pinion seal would be a simple affair of just removing the nut and washer, sliding out the yolk, and popping out the original seal with a seal puller. No go. I broke the handle of the seal puller.

It seems that the metal shell of the seal is much thicker than what I am used to seeing on cars. Normally the shell will fold back on itself when using a seal puller or when using a hammer and chisel.

I tried beating on the metal shell with a large hammer and chisel and using every combination of bad word in the book however I cannot seem to find a way to remove the shell.

Before I beat on it too much...does anyone have any tips or tricks for this extraction???

Bill

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Looks like a "sticky wicket".
Keep wailing!

You could try a sheet metal screw or two put in it to leverage off of.

Looks like you might be at the point of no return on that seal housing but they can be removed by the screw method without damage and then simply patching the small hole to reuse housing with new seal.

Thanks all for your thoughts, prayers, and Packard Voodoo doll belly rubbing... We have success.

Nothing a long combination of bad words and an pneumatic impact hammer and chisel would not fix.

I used an impact hammer with a hooked chisel and whacked it in a circular direction and it spun around and loosen up... then I was about to hammer it forward and off.

Don't try this at home... however if you do... mark the corner of the hex head nut with a center punch and also mark the adjacent section of the yoke. . Also.. mark the socket on the same corner so you can see the mark on the socket spin around and stop at the mark on the yoke.

Bill

Bill; Hope you can get the yoke on the same spot, if you didn't mark the shaft just try to tighten with the same force it took to remove nut.

Hmmmm. Somehow my post from yesterday did not take.

Thank you all for your kind thoughts and Packard Voodoo dances. We had success!!!

I pulled out the old (new) pneumatic impact hammer and installed a chisel with a small hook end and was able to pop the old seal out first with a spin and then when directing the chisel end forward it popped out.

Thankfully I was able to mark the yoke and the nut with a center punch and twisted the nut back to align the marks.

I did have a bit of trouble getting the yoke to reinstall on the pinion. I must have boogered up the pinion splines when removing the seal and had to do a great deal of filing down the interference marks on both the yoke and the pinion. Even with all of the filing, I did have to tap on the yoke with a hammer to get it to slide back on and I am hopeful that I did not crush the crush washer with the hammer whacks. If I ever need to take it back off I will need to use a steering wheel puller to get it off.

A tip when reinstalling the seal is to use a ball joint tool that is essentially a proper diameter pipe. I have a ball joint service kit and one of the dais fit in between the outer shell and the inner sleeve and was able to drive the seal home.

THANKS AGAIN!!!

Bill