Well that is what I was thinking,,,, I could not imagine needing to disassemble the whole 3rd member to replace a pinnion seal,,,, that would just suck....

If this were the case, I don't think I could say that this wasone of Fords"better ideas"....

 

The axle might need rebuilding, but a leaking pinion seal alone is not enough of a reason to rebuild the whole rear end,,,,I guess that is just me being cheap though..........

 

I'vefound that the Ford 9" tends to want to start weeping if stored for extended periods of time (or bashed on rocks as is the case when swapped into our Jeeps ). If you're lucky,they sometime stopweeping once you start driving again. BTDT a few times. If the axle is completely original from 1969, I'd replace the seals and bearings.

 

im getting price quotes for my diff to be rebuilt, i guess i can see how much itll be for the new bearings and seals

 

This may be considered good practice, but as for me, I don't replace/rebuild anything that is performing well, whether it is old or not, I have too many vehicles, if I started fixing things before they were broken, it would put me in the poor house.

If it were my car I would fix the leak and see just how many miles I could squezze out of that thing... I get enjoyment by pulling an extra 100,000 miles out of acomponent that someone(usually a shop) tells me needs replacement or rebuilding. This applies for non safety related parts of course.

I am all for fixing leaky seals and needed repairs but,,,, in my experience, "fixing" a working part does not always work out for the best. (yea, we rebuilt the whole thing, except for that $23.00 part, well that $23.00 part broke, and took the whole damn thing out, too bad it has been 93 days since we fixed it, or it would be on us this time....)

 

well i need to fix it before i leave on the 4th

 

if it's a seal I say go for it,,,,BUT !!! if you have any funy noise's or clunks,,,I have a couple friends that know there way around cars and they won't touch a diff issue,, rear axel or diff seals, or axel bearing YES,, it just seems that there's to much tolerance wise in the diff going on for anything anything to go wrong

 

If you are going to tear in to it now would be a good time to change the ratio or add a locker.

 

Theres a good chance it may stop leeking after you run it. Have you changed the gear oil? But then again, the seals probably have done their job. These rear ends are not hard to rebuild. Setting them up is the critical part. Don't let scare you though. I usea brown paper bag and run thru the gears and look at the marks left (and no cut thru), themarks should becentered in the pattern (retangle block). If they are off centered, you will have to go in or out and side to side untill you are able to obtain this pattern. You may need to shim, so make sure you have a couple on hand. Most of the time its the lateral that has to be adjusted. Of course you can use a feeler gaugeand marking paint,but I have found that the bag works just as well. If you botch it, then send it off. I think the biggest error is setting them up, is getting them too close. When finished, you should be able to move the yoke back and forth and feel just the slightest play. Thats why you check the pattern (with no cut thru on the paper) the paper is ths tolerance (feeler).http://www.drivetrain.com/ringpinioninstal.html