Removal of rear oil seal on the Trany

[Gary L]

I took my drive shaft off when doing some work on the rear diff and I figured as long as I have it off I might as well replace the rear oil seal on the trany which is getting rather old and seems kind of brittle, dripping gear lube a little. This is on my 76 280z 2+2. I've taken trany oil seals off before on other cars with just a flat blade screw driver and they usually easily pop off. However, this one seems really stuck as if a prior owner put a sealer or something on it. I see in the service manual they show to use a puller but I can't seem to find a thin blade one that will slip in and around the seal. Does anyone know where to get such a puller or have any tricks for getting these off? I don't want to take a chance at "marring" up the housing or doing some other damage.

Thanks

Gary

 

[Zed Head]

One trick I've used it to punch a hole in the seal edge with a sharp punch then run a wood or sheet metal screw in to the hole.  Clamp on to the screw with some pliers and either pull it out directly or lever it out from the end of the tail shaft.  Or use a dent puller if you have one.  Might take two holes.  Make sure the punch is sharp so you don't just mangle the seal and drive it inward.

[Gary L]

Got it done. I started the punch a hole ..... approach, but the seal was so brittle it just started to spit away. Since there is quite a bit of space between the output shaft and the seal, I carefully pushed a needle nose pliers in and was able to grab a good size chunk of rubber with out scratching anything and gave a good pull and it did then just pop out. After cleaning things up, I lubed up the new one and drove it in straight. They do go in tight.

Thanks again

Gary