Pinion oil seal replacement issue

[chuckstp]

I decided to address some of the various leaks from my 64' IIA. I ordered the oil seal for the differentials, and at the end of last week, replaced the rear one with little trouble. After removing the 4 bolts to the drive shaft at the differential for the front, I was unable to separate the two mounting plates. In the rear, it simply fell apart. I gave a light tap with a mallet, and even loosened the retaining ring between the two sections of the shaft. I also moved the vehicle forcing the shaft to rotate and they still remained coupled together.

Any thoughts as to why they are still stuck together and the best way to separate them?

[SafeAirOne]

If the splined slip joint on the shaft is binding for whatever reason or the joint is somehow fully compressed, you won't be able to un-seat the flanges.

[antichrist]

What Mark said.

Have you ever had it off before? If not it's certainly possible you've encountered a SPOT. Maybe some sort of sealant applied to the flanges in a futile effort to stop oil leaks. More likely is something like really rusty splines.

I'd try disconnecting it from the FWD unit and see if that frees it enough to get it off, then inspect it carefully.
You may have to rig up a way to get some leverage between the chassis and a pry bar inserted behind either the output flange or the input flange and try to compress the shaft.

[chuckstp]

I have never had the front shaft off as this is part of my first run maintenance after acquiring it. I'll ask my dad since he was the previous owner although he always seem to plead ignorance on some of these things. The good news is that replacing the seal on the rear, fixed the leak, and as of the moment, the front is not leaking. The drive shaft cover for that one is ripped which gives me part of the incentive to remove this which is half the battle of replacing the seal anyway.

I did have the 4WD disengaged when I tried to disassemble this before, but if I jack up both front wheels I would think I should be able to spin one without the other. That won't compress the shaft, but at least it shows something. Presuming the shaft is binding, I should be able to turn the shaft independently of the differential.

[antichrist]

i've seen the flanges rusted together pretty signiticantly, but never so bad some pounding didn't separate them.
Jack up one wheel, wedge a bar in the u-joint and give the wheel a spin, that should free it up no matter what's holding it...unless you missed a bolt. ;)

Make sure which way the propshaft is going to spin so the bar hits the ground rather that something on the truck.

[I Leak Oil]

Chock your wheels.

[chuckstp]

I'll give that a shot tonight. To the best of my knowledge, there is no rust, but seeing as how the shaft cover is torn, I don't discount that or something else that I didn't notice yet.

[chuckstp]

It took me a bit longer to get back to the job than I expected. After removing the bolts between the shaft and differential, it wouldn't budge, and attempting to turn one against the other didn't help. I removed the bolts from the shaft on the other end. The joint in the shaft was perfect because I could slide both pieces in and out. After I laid the free end down, the weight of it broke the light rust that fused the pieces together. The rest of the job was pretty uneventful.

Now I'm down to only one minor leak. I suppose drivers of Rovers likely used the trail of leaks as an early form of navigation to find their way home since GPS was a bit far off still.

[antichrist]

Who needs loctite when you have rust. ;)

[chuckstp]

You've got that right. The unfortunate thing is rust is Murphy's loctite. It only binds those things you want to remove.