I needed to do some maintenance and repairs to my pilot the right transmission seal had been leaking for quite some time now (about 2 table spoons per month) I had been putting it off knowing that trying to remove the axles from the transmission can turn out to be a real project in itself.

After a weekend ride I noticed that the seal was starting to leak more and it was time to fix it. I also I had 2 lower control arms that need to be straighten on the suspension so I figure now is the time to do it all.

I dissembled both sides by removing everything except for the axles with everything out of the way I tried removing the left axle by pulling on it like the book said, Soon after that It was easy to see that it was not going to work just by pulling on it, I did insert a small pry bar behind the CV joint housing and the big nut that holds the disk brake on to see if a little nudge would make it come out, But it would not budge not wanting to do any damage by prying and risk bending or braking something I moved to the right side after really giving it a good pull it came right out, Boy was I surprised

After getting the right side out I could see that the left side was still going to be a problem their was a lot of rust inside the splines so after removing as much of the old grease and rust as I could using about a full can of carb cleaner and a tooth brush I tried to use a scratch awl and a small screw driver to collapse the retaining ring on the left axle after playing around for about 30 min I decided that the only way it was going to come off was with the help from a big punch and hammer it only took about 4 good hits to get it out but it didn't hurt anything. I am sure it didn't do the final shaft bearings any good...

Well now it was time to clean up the area around the old seal so it could be changed after using up the last of the carb cleaner it was spotless and ready to removed. After taking a close look at the new seal I figured the best way to remove The old seal would be to screw in a self drilling and self taping sheet metal screw about 1/4" max then grab the head of the screw with a vise grips and pull out the old seal.

After letting the oil drain out ( I left the oil in the trans on purpose to make sure no dirt got in the transmission wile the old seal was being removed) I made sure the shaft surface was not damaged then greased the seal up real good on both sides

To install the new seal I installed it as far as I could by hand then taped it into place using a 1/4" drift pin working it in real slow as to not distort the seal took about 60 taps to get it seated.

After cleaning the splines with a wire brush inside and out I greased the hell out of the axle 

shafts and put everything back together. 



Make sure to grease those 7" long bolts that hold your lower control arms in place

If they get rusted you will never get them out :-(



I am not looking forward to changing the seal on the left side.



hoser..