59 Savoy rear end

[RexG]

new to the site. I have a 59 Savoy that has a bad leak out of the pinion on the rear end. I know the seal needs repalcement but i don't know how difficult it will be. Do the gears have to come out or can i pull the pinion and replace the seal and put it together? Any tips? This is the car and this is on the side of the rear end.

[Faulkner]

Welcome to the site, Rex! You can find the shop manual here (the '59 manual is just a supplement to the '57/'58) - and here is the section specific to the rear differential.

I have never done this myself, but I believe you can replace the seal without disassembling any part of the differential. I'll ask Dick Koch to have a look at this post, and respond.

Dan

[Dick Koch]

Hi Rex, welcome. Dan as best l can remember all you have to do is pull the flange out of the diff to remove the seal. I sourced a new seal at NAPA. Sometimes the flange is worn, NAPA also has repair sleeves for the flange.
Dick.

[RexG]

Thanks. i will take a look. My dad and I bought the car about 22 yrs ago at an auction for $110. It was fun to drive it to high school for a couple years.

[william0431]

Hi Rex and welcome!

Good looking Savoy! The black on black with black wheels and center caps makes it look tough! Also love that its got a Sport Deck for a touch of class! Be sure and document your experience with the rear seal incase some one in the future has to do the same job.

[RexG]

After a lot of procrastination, I started working on the car again. The pinion seal should have been straight forward, but took a lot of heat and a big puller to get it apart. After it was apart, it was pretty easy. So far I have replaced the pinion seal, 6 new brake cylinders along with brake lines and new a fuel tank and lines. I don't know how, but I got the overdrive solenoid to cycle, this freed it up and now the transmission will shift into overdrive. The kick down switch doesn't currently work to kick out of overdrive when passing.

[Faulkner]

Way cool, Rex! I've got an overdrive in my '54 Suburban, but the harness is shot - and there's no kickdown switch on the carburetor. I've bought a switch, but you have to stand on it to activate it (there's normally-closed and normally-open switch contacts). I'm thinking instead, that I'll use a mini-switch somewhere in the fuel linkage to activate a pair of relays, one N/C and the other N/O. But overdrive is a project well down the road for me - I've still a lot of basics to attend to.



Like, replacing a rear differential seal

Post more pix! We have to see about getting you into the Showcase.

Dan