Rear end Help!

[EJSween]

I am working on a 2002 sport Trac rear end. Axle seals are leaking. Took diff apart and pull the axles out. The seals that I got don’t seem to match. There also seems to be an inner seal that is stuck in the axle housing. Is it possible that this year and is from a different vehicle? Also seems to be a spider gear retainer that I have not yet seen on any YouTube videos.

 

[RangerX]

Welcome to the forum!
It’s possible someone swapped a different axle under there.
It’s also possible the parts store gave you the wrong parts.
I believe that year has the Ford 8.8 axle, not sure if it’s 28 spline or 31 spline.
Maybe post the part number and brand of the seals you got.

 

[koda2000]

I have a 2001 Sport Trac (which still had the drum rear brakes). My rear end was trashed, so I replaced it by using a complete rear diff out of a late 90's 4-door Explorer (w/same gear ratio). I converted the Explorer rear disc brake set up to the Sport Trac drums, which is all bolt on stuff (you could use the disc set up, but some modifications would be necessary). The Sport Trac and 4-door Explorer Ford 8.8" diffs are identical, other than the brake parts (and the Sport trac not needing the bracket for the 4-door's 5th shock/axle damper).

When prepping the 4-door Explorer diff I replaced the axle bearings and seals. They were the kind that go into the axle tubes. I think there are also "repair" axle bearings and axle seals available that mount more externally. Perhaps that's what you're seeing... ?

The spider gears are retained by the shaft/pin that you have to remove to remove the axle "C" clips. With the pin removed, you can easily just "walk" the 4 spider gear out of the spool.