[woodremover]

Any good 80-90 weight gear oil will work fine I believe I used Castrol the last time
I dis any work to my differential
Don't forget to add a posi lubricant as well or your posi will not work properly.
Should be available where ever you buy your lube

[munch]

I don't remember the brand, but I did go back to the parts store and check and it is not synthetic.  I guess I will put in another seal and use the oil that Moose suggested and hope to get lucky.

[munch]

Is there suggestions to follow when replacing the seal that I may need to use to help eliminate the leaking?

[trbomax]

Ive been watching this thread and the only thing I can add is to grease the area behind and on the seal lips when you install the yoke so that the seal lips do not get damaged. How tight does the seal fit on the yoke before you install it in the case? Also on these axles if you are overfilling it the yoke seal will have oil behind it all the time and may drip when sitting. Its been a while since Ive had one of those apart, but there should be a slinger behind the seal that keeps oil in the case when the axle is turning.

[trbomax]

 Another thing,are you sure its a 57 houseing? A 57 up houseing will have a fill plug on the back side of the houseing,55-56 will have the plug on the side of the carrier. Do you have a "down" angle on the pinion? this would trap a puddle of oil between the rear of the seal and the bearing. The pinion angle should be 0 to +3 up.

[munch]

If I remember correctly the center of the seal where the yoke slides through is rubber.  Seems to fit well.  The seal itself is tight in the housing.  It took a bit to get it started, but then went well.  I did not grease any of the seal.

The fill plug is at the back side of the housing and I fill it until it begins to over flow and then plug it.

Isn't it normal to have oil behind the seal?

[trbomax]

The seal should be a "tap it in" fit in the case. I have always cleaned the area so as to be totally free of any oil, and install the seal with blue locktite. As far as haveing oil at the back side of the seal,I dont know on the chev housing.I can go down the shop and measure the "58 houseing in my 28,.I would think the lip measured at the bottom of the yoke would be slightly higher than the lower edge of the fill plug hole. Mine sat for 50 years and is dry so there is defiinitly wrong here. A couple pics of the various parts might help.Something else,how are you driveing the seal in? You should drive it evenly all around the edge all at once. A big deep well socket works well or you could make a driver with a short piece of pipe with a piece of flat stock weld over one end. The idea is to keep it straight all around as it goes in..If you are tapping around the edges you may be distorting the seal houseing and if so,it will leak.

[62131]

Munch   Did you install the speedi sleeve?  Was there a wear groove on the pinion shaft where  the old seal lip made contact? Which should have been where the speedi sleeve was positioned? If so the shaft should have been degreased and cleaned and then either RTV or blue Loctite put in the groove to fill the gap between the sleeve and shaft. If not this could be your source of the leak.

[EDNY]

I have a DVD on setting up rear end axles if anyone ever needs it. Covers installing, shimming gears, crush bearings etc.

Ed

[munch]

The instructions for the sleeve said use a thin coat of non-hardening sealer so I had Permatex 2 and used that.  There was a slight groove and the sleeve covered it fine.  Should I start over?

[62131]

I'm not sure if the #2 permatex would seal properly in this application. The sleeve should have fit so tightly on the shaft that you would have had to drive or press it on with the application tool provided in the kit. Then the drive ring would have been trimmed off. After you installed the sleeve you should have put a piece of tape around the sleeves edge and lightly lubed it so that when the seal slid over the edge of the sleeve it would not have cut the seal lip. If I remember correctly the seal you used the first two digits were 17 which calls out a 1.750 id. do you remember the OD  or the part number of the sleeve you purchased?

[trbomax]

  I would have used locktite red(non removeable) between the sleeve and the yoke.I would think that perm #2 is too thick to be efective in such a tight tolerance.

[62131]

Quick metal or Red or Blue Loctite would be ok, Red would be difficult to remove if it ever needed to be, heat above above 400 degrees would need to be applied to release it, this could possibly damage the bearings.

[themoose]

I did a little more research on the leaking while sitting issue on early GM rears and I found a couple of cased where guys found oil seeping through the splines between the yoke and pinion. Apparently if the manufacturing tolerances stack up on the loose side it can cause the problem on some rear ends. The suggestion was to but a sealer such as RTV on the splines when you assemble it after the seal is replaced. I've never seen the condition myself but it cant hurt to try.

Moose   

[munch]

62131

I didn't take the drive ring off because I bottomed it out.  Should I?