Ho 52

[mjensen]

I have an HO 52 for my truck, but it needs at least a new pinion seal. And when I say it needs a seal, I mean the oil "streams" out of the pinion while the rear end is on jack stands The question is whether or not I should just try to find a pinion seal for this, or try to find another axle. I know the "easy" solution is to find another axle, but if replacing the pinion seal isn't that big of deal, I may just go that route.

Thanks!

[VWBeamer]

A good ho can be hard to find...

[mjensen]

I was thinking if it's an easy thing to put a pinion seal in then I would just do that. Otherwise I would think about finding me a late model axle. I have no idea how to tell if it's even worth working on at all stuff like backlash and such.
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[vectorit]

Rock auto has them.

I did a search for the same seal for my rig, pretty much the same thing as any H052.

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php

[mjensen]

I did see that I can get a seal through Rock Auto. In fact that's where I found all my seals for my T221. Place is a great resource for stuff like that. Do you happen to know if the seals are easy to replace, or would it require special tools/ expertise?

Thanks!
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[bollybib]

I related my experience with this seal in Posts 28 thru 33 of my Project thread that you may find informative.

[mjensen]

Originally Posted by bollybib

I related my experience with this seal in Posts 28 thru 33 of my Project thread that you may find informative.

Wow! Great write-up. That doesn't seem so bad. Maybe I'll just replace the seal and keep this rear end.

[bobs409]

Originally Posted by bollybib

I related my experience with this seal in Posts 28 thru 33 of my Project thread that you may find informative.

Jim,

I noticed you mentioned the seal number: National 411330N

When I looked that up at Advance auto, it says outer axle seal. Any chance the same seal is used in both locations?

I too have a leaker on my hands lately and I'm in the "talking myself into it" stages of this fix. For some reason, I'm dreding this job...

[mjensen]

Rockauto has a couple of options. The first one being the Timken 411330N and the second being the SKF 25970. They do say outer axle seal there as well, but they are both listed under the pinion seal section. Not sure if this helps or not, but I thought I would share my research

[bollybib]

I hadn't noticed they might be the same.

I bought it at O'Reilly. They list a National 2081 for HO52 rear wheel seals so they don't look to be the same

Bob, I hope you find the will to overcome your dread.

[bobs409]

Thanks guys.

[VWNate1]

YES ! this is a fairly easy job and as long as you take the time to do all the steps , no need to set set the preload , shims etc.

First thing after jacking the rear end WAY up and safely blocking it , is to clean the entire middle section of the rear end so you aren't fighting the mess when working on it . Hospital Clean here .

Undo the rear U-Joint and use coat hangers etc. to hold it up and away to the frame .

Now , take a scribe or crayon etc. (I use a punch like GM taught us to) and make marks on both the yoke and the big pinion nut so when you re assemble it you can line them up to *precisely* the same position , this will ensure proper preload of the pinion .

Hold the yoke with a BIG pipe wrench and zap the nut off with your impact wrench , if you don't have one , they can be rented from any Tool / Trailer Rental place , use the electric one if you don't have a good 150 PSI compressor .

Nut & yoke off ? good ~ wipe the face of the old seal off well and look closely with a flashlight and write down the raised , casted in alpha-numeric part number BEFORE you destroy it taking it out .

Match up the old and new seals then use a BIG socket or bit of pipe to support the new seal as you knock it in using a dead blow mallet or heavy ballpien hammer ~ it doesn't take much force , never , EVER knock in ANY seal by hitting it's face unless you want it to leak .

Replace the yoke and run the nut up snug by hand , now use the impact tool to tighten it to where your previous scribe marks alingn and you're good to go .

A one day job even when done slowly with much time spent cleaning and prepping .

I hope this helps .

[mjensen]

Nate,
That helps a lot. With your instructions, and bollybib's documentation, I think I'm up for the challenge. It will be a couple of weekends from now but I think I'm going to tackle it.

On another note, this weekend I noticed that the lug studs on this rear are different than my later model front end. Is there anything that can be done about that?

[VWNate1]

The lug studs are a different size thread ? .

The studs are only swadjed in place so replacing the wrong ones isn't terribly difficult , you need to get one correct sample and see if you need to press them into the axles or the front hubs , figure out from there which way to go .

[mjensen]

Yeah, apparently the old lugs are a smaller diameter than the ones on the newer axle. I would like to replace the ones in the rear, but i'm not sure that would be possible.