The first time I would say it may have been possible. But the 2nd and 3rd time I changed it, I know it was not torn or anything. As for the seal be seated to far or not far enough into the housing, I've tried it both ways. Oh, also, I never had the boot off. I got a deal from a buddy at a NAPA and replased the entire axle. I don't like messing with the CV joints, all the grease and crap, I perfer just to change the entire axle. Then again out of two cars I've changed axles on, I've never had this leaking problem.

 

My bad, I just re-read your blip about the seal, I was thinking boot for some reason. When my bro. (amazing mechanic) and I changed the clutch, we also changed the seal and checked the seal surface. It looked good.

 

OK,aboutdamaging the seals I was just trying not to take anything for granted. But a reman axle having a seal surface polished down to a diameter thats too small, would be out of your control. And to be honest, I would have never thought to measure it when replacing an axle.

But what about the motion of the axle? If it moves too much that would be a problem inside the differential.

 

I'm going to have to find some time and some ramps to test the play in the axle. I got a jack and jack stands but no ramps. Now if there is extra play in the axle, my prblem is inside the differential right? And if thats true, whats it going to take to get it fixed?

 

Try checking with stands. I dont know whether its easy to check when the suspension is extended. Worst case, the fact the axle is angled downward will be pulling on the rubber boot making it harder to move the stub axle inside the tranny.

If it moves much, then we probably have to find a definitive spec for what movement is allowable. If yours moves too much, I guess you dismantle the tranny & replace parts inside the differential??

 

If I'm ganna have to take the tranny apart to fix a small leak, I'll probably continue to add fluid every few oil changes until I swap the motor. That's a lot of work for a small leak. Plus I know crap about a tranny. I still wanna check the movement for my own knowledge of what I may be dealing with though. I'm going to the track this Sat. so I'm hopeing to get a little look around the car Fri. I'll post another message after I take a look at it. Thanks for all the info.