MudBoy2

Hello All,

I have a 1978 FJ40 and noticed that I have a leak in the front (close to the drive shaft u-joint) of my rear differential. I did some research to see what it would take to replace the seal since the gears seem tight and only have 75K original miles on them. I would like to avoid a complete rebuild if possible. From what I can tell, I have to remove the rear dif housing, pull both axles, remove the third member, then replace the front seal and re-assemble. Is this correct? Seems like quite a process to me. I would then have to replace both axle seals and the rear dif cover seal if I'm not mistaken. Does anyone know of any short cuts to this process? Would I be better off having a local transmission shop do the work (rough quote was $100-150)?

Any thought or instruction would be great.

Thanks