Axle Seal and Bearing

[Jamesdali]

He everyone, I drive a 99 tahoe with the 350 in her, 4 wheeler drive. My drivers side axle seal is leaking. I have the shaft out and removed both the seal and bearing. I installed the newsnew with the rubber side out, matching the way I removed the old one. It started leaking immediately.

Has anyone does this repair? Possibly I installed the seal backwards?

Thanks and cheers

 

[PNW NBS Z71]

Sounds like the seal is installed correctly. How did you install it? Did you use a seal driver that is flat or did you tap it in with a flat punch? The seal driver is the correct way to do that. You also should make sure that the inside lip of the seal has the tension spring on the inside of the lip to hold tension on the seal lip to axle contact area. When the axle is old enough the seal will wear a groove over time at the seal lip contact surface and that will allow a new seal to leak. You can buy offset seals that move the lip contact to a different area of the axle and makes a tight seal lip contact. The only other option is buying a new axle.