Front Axle Oil Seal Fitment Issue

[booze_rooster]

Hey guys,

Assembling the front axle from my 1952 M37.

Tore it down for blasting and painting last summer. Finally back to it hoping to get it off jack stands and back on wheels in a few weeks.

I'm having issues with the front axle oil seals. Unfortunately I believe I've tossed my old ones as I can't find them in any of the parts bags from the teardown.

Maybe I'm crazy or maybe I'm too used to Land Cruiser axles, but the oil seals I ordered from Midwest Military that measure about 2 1/16" OD are slightly too small to drive into the pocket at the back of the knuckle "ball". Figured I must have had a few too many beers out in the garage and mistakenly ordered the wrong ones. Found some on Ebay by chance that had a double lip. Figured I'd order them and try them out. Same deal.

Now I'm looking at the exploded diagram of the front axle and it seems to picture a seal as "J - SEAL- (500057)" and "H - BEARING - 7351046" which looks an awful lot like the spindle bushing, but facing the wrong way. Seems I'm missing a part or not grasping a concept here.

I've cruised through the literature I have on hand. I cannot for the life of me find a video of a rebuild or pictures of the seal being replaced. There's no way "my truck is big boned and just takes larger seals".

Can anybody help me out here?

 

[Roller]

Hey guys,

Assembling the front axle from my 1952 M37.

Tore it down for blasting and painting last summer. Finally back to it hoping to get it off jack stands and back on wheels in a few weeks.

I'm having issues with the front axle oil seals. Unfortunately I believe I've tossed my old ones as I can't find them in any of the parts bags from the teardown.

Maybe I'm crazy or maybe I'm too used to Land Cruiser axles, but the oil seals I ordered from Midwest Military that measure about 2 1/16" OD are slightly too small to drive into the pocket at the back of the knuckle "ball". Figured I must have had a few too many beers out in the garage and mistakenly ordered the wrong ones. Found some on Ebay by chance that had a double lip. Figured I'd order them and try them out. Same deal.

Now I'm looking at the exploded diagram of the front axle and it seems to picture a seal as "J - SEAL- (500057)" and "H - BEARING - 7351046" which looks an awful lot like the spindle bushing, but facing the wrong way. Seems I'm missing a part or not grasping a concept here.

I've cruised through the literature I have on hand. I cannot for the life of me find a video of a rebuild or pictures of the seal being replaced. There's no way "my truck is big boned and just takes larger seals"

Can anybody help me out here?

Seal goes in first followed by the bronze bushing.

Frank

 

[booze_rooster]

Seal goes in first followed by the bronze bushing.

Frank

That straightened me out. Just went and checked. Found the shaft bushings from the axle still stuck on my front axle shafts where I tucked them in between the studs of the garage wall. The pocket they go on led me to believe I had already pulled the oil seals- guess what I found still hanging out in there? I appreciate the answer, it solved an awful lot of mysteries all at once. That's what I get for leaving a truck on jack stands for too long.