82 corvette: dyna 44 leaking rear end

[ironmoo]

The car is leaving a drip or two of fluid in the driveway. Got the car up on a friends lift and noticed that the left and right shafts are leaking where they enter the diff housing. Bad seals I'm guessing in need of replacing. I topped off the fluid in the rear end and road tested the car. No grinding or odd sounds, in fact, she runs just fine!

The rearend was rebuilt about 15 years ago (probably about 30,000 miles ago.)

Question is: This a job of removing a shaft, pulling out the old seal...and tapping in a new seal OR is this a job be left to a pro?
I'm okay at working on a engine tear-down/rebuild but never worked on rearends.

Thank yee in advance for any suggestions!

-Moo

 

[JohnZ]

The diff has to come out - the drive yokes have to be removed to change the seals, and they're retained by C-clips that are only accessible by removing the diff housing from the car and separating it from the crossmember. Note: The Corvette diff isn't a Dana 44.

 

[AGVI]

Note: The Corvette diff isn't a Dana 44.

Yes it is.

 

[JohnZ]

Yes it is.

I'll re-phrase - it may be now, but it was born with a Dana 36.

 

[AGVI]

Keep rephrasing. Do you mean the '82 originally had a Dana 36?

 

[84Turbo]

Keep rephrasing. Do you mean the '82 originally had a Dana 36?

I'm getting the mental image of a cat toying with a mouse, here.

 

[Hib Halverson]

The diff has to come out - the drive yokes have to be removed to change the seals, and they're retained by C-clips that are only accessible by removing the diff housing from the car and separating it from the crossmember. Note: The Corvette diff isn't a Dana 44.

Uh, well....the 80-82 diff is a Dana 44 axle. The case is different, obviously, and the guts are slightly different, but 80-82s used same D44 architecture as did the 85-96 manuals.

The D36 is 84-96 automatics only. Not used on C3.

Now, 63-79 Corvette diff, with the cast iron case, is the 10-bolt GM axle.

 

[ironmoo]

Thanks for the feedback!
The seals are leaking a silver-ish material so I'm guessing it's parts of the aluminum casing being ground down by the something inside.
Not a good sign.
I'm thinking about replacing it with another 80-82 unit that has been already newly rebuilt. Question is: Will this affect the "numbers matching" aspect of the vehicle?

-Moo

 

[JohnZ]

The D36 is 84-96 automatics only. Not used on C3.

Oops! That's what I was thinking of. :eyerole