So my rear axle seal blew in Moab on Friday and I am looking to now replace both as well as the bearings. I spoke with Kirk on Saturday a little bit and he explained somewhat of what is required to replace them. Also, the shop in Moab said that there are 2 different seals and bearings for the stock 28 spline axles and that I have what is considered the light duty. So I have a couple of questions:

1. When I look at OReillys site, they have 2 different kinds. Am I to assume that the ones that state the lighter axle weight are the correct ones? Are these decent bearings and seals or does someone have another suggestion on where to buy locally?
rear seal and bearing.png

2. I have called a couple of 4x4 shops and a couple of just local mechanic shops and have gotten around 1 hour labor (~$100) to swap both axle bearings out if I bring in the parts and axles. Had one mechanic shop quote me 3 hours and around $250. Anyone have a place they have gotten it done cheaper or would recommend?

Thanks!

1) National bearings are good. Yes, you need the 207 bearing and smaller seal with the small bearing axle.

2) It's worth 1 hr of shop rate. If you had nothing but a press it would take you longer than that to get the old bearings off. They usually need to be cut.

1. No idea. Will leave that to someone else.

2. Bring the axles over. It's a fairly easy job to swap the bearings, but you need a press. It'll take an hour or two.

Other than this minor inconvenience of replacing these bearings.............did your rig perform reliably at Moab ?

I've done large bearing axles, and the procedure is the same for the small bearing ones other than the seal. Not sure about evenings this week. Let me touch base with the wife to coordinate parenting duties.

Replaced the seals-- the one seal was clearly busted as was the wheel bearing. It didn't have any rubber left and the wheel bearing was wobbly over the axle.

Thanks to Justin, he helped cut off the old bearings and install the new ones last night. I was able to get everything installed this morning and the Bronco is back on the road. It remarkably did not take very long to do everything and it is kind of a shame that I couldn't get it done while in Moab so I could have had one more day of wheeling. Apparently the correct seals and bearings were not in Moab so the Moab 4x4 Outpost couldn't do the work.

I bought the bearings and seals here in Denver from O'Reilly's and I know that the O'Reillys in Moab is supposed to stock quite a few parts. Just out of curiosity I just checked to see if the correct bearings and seals were in stock there and guess what? They are. I am wondering now if the Outpost called more than HIS supplier to try to find the right parts. Lesson learned-- next time I will call around myself.