Hello,

I have a reoccurring issue with half shaft seals popping out on my front axle which allows the differential fluid to spill into the knuckle and subsequently leak out of my lower king pins.

It may just be that my seals are slightly under sized but I still need to install them with a hammer and socket. They do not just go in hand tight.

Note: I am using the axle bearing and seal kits from India. Its a cheep build and everything else worked perfectly in the rear axle and front axle except for these crap seals.

The first time I just popped them in like factory and they came out immediately once 4x4 was engaged.

The second time I reinstalled the same seals as they looked in perfect condition and still required a hammer and socket to install. But this time I used RTV and staked them in place by deforming the axle shoulder into the seal.
Yet again one popped out on the driver side. I am sure the passenger is probably not far behind.

For my third attempt I just ordered the Trail Gear "trail safe" improved axle seals with the metal lip. My plan it to notch that outer lip and tap and screw them into the axle housing to keep them from rotating or popping out again.

I am sure that will do the trick.

Spoke with a rep from Trail Gear and he told me that they have never really seen an issue like that with those inner seals.

But has anyone had problems like this with their inner axle seals?

Well. I just wanted to follow up and let everyone know my not so great solution for this problem.

After testing with a few different seals including the trail gear "trail safe" ones I came to the conclusion that my axle housing is just ever so slightly over sized and it lets the inner seal pop out every time. Even though the original seals held on without issue....?

If fact the trail gear "trail safe" ones slipped in with finger pressure so they were smaller than the India seals I got the first time. However they are really great quality otherwise.

What I did to solve the problem is use the trail gear seals and tack weld the metal lips to the axle housing. Note: I did this in four evenly placed locations and protected the rubbery soft parts with a rag soaked in water to keep them cool.

If I need to remove them later a hammer and chisel would do the job easily. But they should give me a very long service life hopefully.

But so far everything is working perfectly without issue and no more inner axle seal leaks which is great because my 33s were shooting fluids all over the place.