460 230GE Front axel Pinion bearing replacment advice

Yes done it.

EPC shows my 1988 had two seals of different type which are replaced by a new part number. Partsman and me were unsure so ordered two.. you only need one seal to replace the two old seals. So I must have a spare somewhere in my excess parts bin.

Remove prop .. oh the pain as the bolts are flat by flat .. may have to grind some off .. special fine threads with small heads so get new ones from the dealer (and replace non fine thread ones you find..)

Unstake nut as much as you can and punch to mark where it sits on the shaft as much as you can .. hard stuff.

With front wheels on ground to lock the diff you can break out the nut.. might have put diff lock on and left only one wheel on ground to get better clearance.

Now COUNT THE TURNS OUT .. this is because you need to put the nut back where you found it so the bearing stays in the right place.. and hence the gears (there is a crush ring which is used to set up the diff gears; oh maybe not.. see below; still counting turns is the safe way!).

Flange should come off easy.

Screwdriver to lever out the old seals .. maybe two if 1988 vintage

Now clean up the flange where the seal runs with 800 to1000 grit wet and dry and a little oil.. this will break off any glaze/crud so the seal has a better change to work

Tap new seal in place so it is flush, put nut back where you found it Turns Wise, restake, remount prop.. and check your front diff oil level...

Ah.. see you need to do bearing too... that is a diff out job as you may need to redo diff gear alignment which unless you know how to do engineering blue and/or DTI (dial type indicator) so a specialist gearbox type person job.. now to take diff out you will need to pull the driveshafts... so you need to pull the wheel hubs.. and it all got a LOT nastier... given costs of some parts a used axle would be worth investigating.. saying that on looking at EPC they show 3 rings 53,56,62 and 53 is available in various thicknesses... so it looks like that is the depth setting device no a crush ring I talked of... in which case you could replace bearing 65 without resetting and that you should use torque not counting turns to set the bearings up. DO NOT KNOW... would need someone who has had it apart or has workshop manual on it. Saying that if want to replace both bearings.. then you may need to change out ring 53 if the tolerance/size of bearing 50 is different .. i.e. back to Engineering Blue, DTI (or torque measurement is third way I have heard of folk setting up a ring/pinion alignment). Next question would be if you need to do both bearings as they are that bad then you will need to inspect the ring/pinion gears wear .. anyway for sure it is is a pull out diff job.