Shop manual has this job looking more difficult than it appears with special tools etc. Anyone out there done it and have an easier way? I'm putting a new clutch in my 77 and thought it would be a good time to replace it and the U joints. I've done the 1/2 shafts just need to do the driveshaft. Seal is leaking and making a real mess. Thanks!

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Beautiful car.
I've never done a pinion seal in my 'Vette, but in the GM manual, it looks to me like the same type of tool used to install the tail seal in ie; a 350 turbo transmission, a drift attached tothe appropriate sized socket. I'd think that with the car in the air, it wouldn't be a tough job.
If you look in the first few pages of the C3 forum, you'll see a topic about one of the site members having done their entire rear end and suspension with pics of the finished product. You may want to e-mail that person as to this work. And I'm sure that you'll get afew posts by the very active members who have done some extensive work on their 'Vettes.

 

Very nice looking Corvette!

Just reviewed the seal replacement procedure in manual. Probably the toughest part is breaking loose the companion flange nut. [:@] Without the "special tool", you could maybe use a pry bar thru one of the half shaft U-joints to keep it from turning. Probably need a large socket to use as a seal driver since the pinion shaft is sticking out. Not sure how they thought the flat plate shown in the picture was going to work. Will need a couple of torque wrenches and you should be set. Good luck with it.

 

73shark, What manual showed a plate to drive the seal in? That does sound crazy to me also. Not long ago, I caught a mis-print in two different Chilton manuals (same item) which would have wrecked a green guys day. It gave a torque spec for a #8 bolt that was way over what it should have been, which is rare for Chilton. I have afew different size sockets that I use for jobs like that. In fact, alot of times, and I know that most people discourage it, I use a small semi-soft mallet(sp?), not just to start it, but yes I admit it, to tap it around and around and finally flush it up. It works if you're careful and with the soft mallet(sp?), you don't dent up the metal edge. Short lengths of pipe, the right diameter, work well for that. After cutting it to the desired length, you just smooth the cut end with a dremel.An impact wrench would work on that pinion nut.

 

It was my '73 Corvette Service Manual. They were obviously putting the seal in an unassembled pumpkin. Not sure why they weren't using a seal driver. After years of trying to coax 'em in w/o messing it up [] I finally bought a seal driver set. Makes the job much easier but still wouldn't help in this case.

Good call on the impact wrench.

 

The pinion seal is for the rear dif. maybe thats why the book made it sound hard. Thats a whole different story. The rear seal on the trans, sometimes call a tailshaft seal is no big deal like the other guys said. Now the bad news if your leaking that bad the tailshaft bushing might be bad too then your in for some work. See if there is a lot of play up and down on the yoke when it is in the trans. On mine the bushing was so bad it had chewed the yoke up. If the yoke is clean i'd throw a seal in and hope for the best.

 

An impact wrench for the nut on the yoke will do the trick. Get the numbers off the original seal before you pry it out, the listing in all of the parts house books was coming up with the wrong seal for mine, they were able to cross the old number to find the right one, other than that I didn't have any problems.

 

I use a wooden 2 x 4, laidwith the 2" side against the seal, with the 4" side along the side of the shaft. Tap it gently as you move it around the shaft, to get the seal to move as evenly as possible.Works for me. ( a 2 x 4, is actually 1 1/2" x 3 1/2" )

If ya have a good parking brake, set it, beforeremoving the nut.

 

I knew it, like I said when I first replied to this topic, that very quickly there would be good info given that would cover the whole thing. (The info that Rick G. gave even covered something else to look for just incase, from his first-hand experience...perfect.) Even though I got alittle loud when I said that someof the brake info given (awhile ago) was looking like "rocket science," the fact is that if someone is going to do a job, and they post the question as tohow theyshould go about it, the members here usually give all the ins and outs, mostall the time leaving out nothing. I have gone to sites whereI've waiteda week or two for any extensive input. Not so here, and that's GREAT!