opinions on my differential dilemma

[62gmc910]

I missed the part about your axle being OK other than the pinion leak, build your self a yoke wrench basicly a piece of plate that you can bolt to the u joint clamp holes and put a 3 foot handle on it , it needs a hole in the center for the socket to undo the pinion nut , if you pull the yoke without disturbing the bearings, you should be able to replace the seal with out worrying about changing the preload much . make sure you lube the seal surface and loctite the nut . the repair should only cost you $20.00 and your time , if you somehow scrwe it up which is pretty hard you were thinking of a new axle anyway