If gear oil is weeping out of the knuckle on a Jeep Wrangler, a Super Duty or a Ram front end after a gear swap or axle job, the inner tube seal is the first suspect, and a seal that went in crooked is the usual reason. This threaded installer presses inner axle seals into Dana 30, Dana 44 and Dana 60 housings straight and to a controlled depth, so you are not tapping a new seal in with a socket and hoping. It is CNC-machined steel with a zinc-black finish and weighs about 3.9 lb.
What an inner axle seal does in a Dana axle
On most Dana front axles, a seal sits in each axle tube just outboard of the carrier. Its job is to keep differential oil in the center section and keep it from running down the tube to the knuckle, ball joints and axle U-joints, while also keeping water and grit out. Yukon describes its own installer for these seals as setting inner front axle seals to the proper depth on Dana 30, 44 and 60 fronts, which is the whole point: too shallow and the seal can pop out, too deep or cocked and the lip will not ride on the shaft correctly. Many rear axles seal at the outer wheel bearing instead, so check your housing before assuming it has an inner seal.
Symptoms that point to a bad inner seal
- Gear oil on the inside of the front knuckle or around the ball joints
- Front differential oil level dropping with no leak at the cover or pinion
- Grease from the axle U-joints looking thin and smelling like gear oil
- Milky gear oil after water crossings
- A leak that started right after axle shafts were pulled for gears, a locker or U-joints
Our Dana 30 front axle problems guide and Dana 44 axle guide cover the other common front-end leaks.
How to confirm the seal is the leak
Clean the knuckle and tube, check the diff level, then drive and look again. Oil coming from inside the knuckle, not from the cover or the pinion seal, means the inner seal. Pull the shaft and inspect the seal lip and the sealing surface on the axle; a grooved shaft will tear up a new seal no matter how well it is installed.
Fitment
The stepped puck has different diameters on each face, so the tool covers a wide range of Spicer-style inner seals used in Dana 30, 44 and 60 axles in Jeep, Dodge and Ram, Ford, Chevy and GMC, International Scout and other vehicles. Inner seal sizes vary a lot by axle and year; Yukon lists Dana 30 inner seals at 2.00 and 2.125 in OD and Dana 44 and 60 disconnect seals at 2.290 in OD, for example. Hold your new seal against the puck faces before you start to pick the one that supports the seal case, not the lip. If you only work on Dana 44 fronts, the 5041-style Dana 44 seal installer is a dedicated alternative. More shop tools are in tools.
Install notes
- Pull the axle shaft, remove the old seal with a seal puller and clean the bore in the tube. Light oil on the seal OD helps it start.
- Set the seal on the puck with the lip facing the carrier side, as the old seal was installed.
- Grease the threaded rod, set the puck and rod in the tube and run the nut down slowly. Owners report starting with the small face to get the seal just past the lip, then flipping to the large face to seat it.
- Stop at the original seal depth. Do not over-drive it into the housing.
- Replace worn wheel bearings while the shafts are out; the Dana 60 front wheel bearing and seal kit or a Spicer JK Dana 30 master overhaul kit covers the rest of the job.
- Slide the axle shaft in carefully so the splines do not cut the new lip, then refill with 75W-90 gear oil or the grade on your axle tag. See our Dana 60 front axle guide for Super Duty and Ram specifics.
