rear drive shaft oil seals

afternoon fella's,
a week or so ago i started noticing drops of oil on the drive way, it was obvious it was coming from the rear diff and on closer inspection both drive shaft oil seals are weeping oil, is it common for 2 seals to go at the same time?
so, im about to embark on changing them, is it a pretty straight forward job?
is there anything in particular i need to do or keep an eye out for while changing them?
I'll be checking the breather while i'm at it to make sure it isn't blocked and obviously checking the bearing for any excessive movement.
are the seals easy enough to get out while the diff is in place or are you best off removing it completely?
only issue i have is my driveway is on a slant and it scares the life out of me working under the car on axle stands having already had the car go over once before (luckily i wasnt under it at the time!).
hmm anyone know of any garages with pits to rent in chesterfield? lol
oh and its a freelander 1, 2004 TD4.
cheers in advance
Dell

the job can be done by taking the wheel off altho dont need to undo the 2 bolts that hold the arms to the subframe and then using 2 pry bars one each side pry the shft out and the drive shaft will slide out then using a suitble tool find the lip and tap the old seal out clean up lips and edges and tap new seal in place...

now get a bit of oil or grease on ya finger and rub round the inner part so it slides over the driveshaft easier and better

refit and do same to other side

if you want just do one at a time leaving 3 wheels on the floor i did this and it also meant i didn't lose as much oil when i pulled the drive-shaft out

afternoon Matt, thanks for the reply, i remember my old man taking drive shafts out without removing the hubs, thats what i was going to try and do, having had to remove the drive shaft hub bolts before, i know what a pain they can be!
and the 3 wheels on the ground idea, genius, dunno why i didnt think of that, i'll blame the heat! lol
just spoke to the bloke at my local land rover spares place and he said its quite normal for 2 to go at once due to the loss of oil and the remainder over heating, becoming thinner and thus leaking through gaps it wouldnt normally pass through. but im definately gonna give the breather a good going over as im pretty sure thats the culprit!.

It's worth checking the VCU as well. A failed VCU will cause the diff to heat up enough to melt the breather pipe which then blocks, this forces the oil out the seals.

ive hit a stop! i cannot get the damn drive shaft out! and i dont have any proper pry bars! why are these jobs never straight forward!

from what i can see, everything looks fine apart from the seals. im no expert but it all looks ok to me.

oh yeah thats the other thing, the breather pipe on a 2004 TD4, does it just push into the diff housing? i looked online and found a detailed post for an earlier model that showed a bolted setup, looking at mine, its nothing like that and no visible way its retained.

use 2 flat bladed screw drivers one opposite the other lay on ya back and push the drum with ya feet and they will pop off

frags can u put up the link about the diff breather i did my seals few week ago and 1 leaking again and be worth a look at

here ya go mate, hope it helps.

Quick fix: Oil leak from the rear differential | Land Rover Expedition

as for your suggestion on the drive shaft, it sounds idea, except im scared rigid it'll come off the stands again. i know im being a wuss but i had a lucky escape last time! think i need a flat drive lol

use a axle stand and a jack to support it or 2 axle stands i always do if only jacking on wheel

i always use stand and jack after having a car fall on me but was down to the jack being old and faulty

photos of the offending drive shaft and breather

now ive taken that pic it looks to me like the seal is coming out with the shaft! is that normal?
still cant shift it, i know i aint the strongest bloke but im sure it should have budged by now!

how does the breather come out

ive no idea, ive not touched it yet, but looking at it, i cant see any form of fixing, it just looks like its pushed in.

mine needs to come out and i dont want to break it

yeah i get that feel that if i yank it, its gonna snap! it has a little metal clup at the bottom that might be used to pry it out.

just nipped out on the motorbike n bought a new set of pry bars, now ive just gotta battle with the heat out there! but fingers crossed, it'll fly off now

I use a piece of wood on the back lip where it enters the diff, then take up the slack in the drive shaft and give the wood a good tap with a hammer.......this normally pops them right out.

it suddenly dawned on me that id not taken the drain plug out and thought it could be creating a vacuum within the diff making it damn difficult to get the drive shaft out. but now ive caused myself yet another problem, i cant get the damn plug out, it wont budge lol im beginning to think im a bit crap at the car fixing business!

fraggz said:

it suddenly dawned on me that id not taken the drain plug out and thought it could be creating a vacuum within the diff making it damn difficult to get the drive shaft out. but now ive caused myself yet another problem, i cant get the damn plug out, it wont budge lol im beginning to think im a bit crap at the car fixing business!

Click to expand...

You'll struggle to get the drain plug out because there isn't one unless someone has drilled and tapped the casting?