breaking the brakes

after running the car up and down the interstate all weekend i noticed some brake fade and a puddle of fluid near the driver's rear tire. pulling the tire off however revealed a leaky axle seal instead. never done one of these before but i figured now's a good time to learn.

first task is to remove the cover from the differential and allow the fluid to drain. while that was draining i pulled the brakes off the driver's rear. next step is to pull a bronze colored pin that runs through the center of the differential (seen above) and remove the little c-clip that holds the axle shaft in.

here's a shot of the axle hub with the brakes hanging off to the right. the old seal is sitting in that pan below (which happens to be the differential cover). hammering on the new seal was a little scary but it went in without much trouble. hopefully it won't leak anymore.

the whole process took about 2 hours. most of the time was due to having to siphon new fluid into the axle. this is some super thick gear oil and it took forever.

i'm going to wait a few days before driving so the black rtv sealant has plenty of time to cure.