Question on L5030HSTC Front Pinion Seal

[MODiesel]

Hi Everyone,

I noticed an oil leak from under the bell housing split pin the other day and immediately my heart dropped, thinking it was the rear main seal. However, a few threads here noted it could be the front pinion seal so I removed the front drive shaft cover and found a mess of front axle lube and what looked like grease from the rear axle housing. I ordered a pinion seal from the dealer and then want to try and remove the old one. That thing is in there stubbornly, and even after mangling that a bit it doesn't want to move. That's when I realized that the housing supporting pinion seal has what looks like a lip around it. Does the rear support housing need to come off to remove the pinion seal? The WSM talks about removing the axle as part of complete axle service. I've heard it mentioned in a few threads that the seal is a simple job, so I wasn't thinking I need to remove the rear support housing. Is this just a matter of more elbow grease and "persuasion" to get the old seal out....or is it never coming out unless the housing is out of the way? Any clues would be appreciated as I'm trying to get it cleaned up and ready for a new seal (which won't be here until the end of the week). If I had the new seal I could compare its size.

Thanks in advance!

 

[MODiesel]

As a follow-up, turns out the pinion seal is much too large for the hole in the rear bracket that accommodates the drive shaft and cover. And there's not enough room to simply remove the rear bracket as the oil pan is in the way. But in the end, it's really not that hard to replace. I ended up removing the four bolts on the rear bracket. I also removed the two rear bolts on the front bracket and loosened the front bolts "enough." I then used the loader to gently & slowly lift the tractor, allowing the front axle to drop and pivot to the rear. As long as you're careful there's more than enough slack in the power steering hoses to let the axle drop a bit. After putting some axle stands under the tractor, I slipped the rear bracket off. Screwed a short deck screw into the old seal and used a hammer to pull it right off. Slip & then tapped in the new pinion seal and then gently lowered the tractor down while carefully lining up the studs in the front axle. Back together in no time!

Now here's something I learned. I've always been a bit overzealous in greasing the front axle pivot points. I had a friend wear one that eventually broke and turned into a costly repair and I figured extra grease would help prevent significant wear there. But that turned out to be part of my leak problem. The rear bracket on the front axle has no real seal to keep grease in and around the bracket and bushing. So over time grease was slowly building up in there and when the pinion seal starting mixing gear lube with it the driveshaft tube became a big, soupy mess of semi-liquid grease and axle fluid. Once it was hot and had travelled rearward back to the split plug in the clutch housing it made for an interesting mess. The take-away is to be judicious in greasing the pivot: "a little" should be enough, especially if using a good EP grease with moly. YMMW.