try to pull on the axle shaft at the transmission with an outward force. The amount of play here should equal what you are seeing on the other axle. If it is not then you may have something wrong with the LSD that will not allow it to hold the input shaft properly.

 

Sorry to bump an older thread but I've been having the same issue. I had a thought, could you put the seal on the axle before putting into the transfer case ? Or would that just cause the same problem? Either way I'm waiting on a new seal from Mitsu and I'll try it the stackhouse way.

 

I'm dealing with the same issue. Removed the old axle carefully, the inboard side metal cup is perfectly round. I carefully took out the old seal ( that was dryrotted beyond belief), and gently tapped the new seal into place using some gear oil as a lubricant. I tried to leave about 1/16" of the seal lip out, and from what I can tell visually there is good interaction between the cup and seal. It still leaks, albeit much less than before.

But whoever designed this seal
All I can really think to do at this point is crawl under there with some scrap wood and a hammer and try to seat the axle in a bit more.

 

I raced my car on Sunday and this was my first time out on Hoosiers. The car felt great finished the day no issues. I got the car up on the lift last night to check everything out make sure tires fit fine etc and when I started raising the car up I noticed oil on the ground. I started looking around and it seems there is a good deal of oil on the case of the trans. The fluid is very clean almost clear like so I dont think its motor oil. Surprisingly it doesnt smell like gear oil at least from what I can tell however Im currently quite stuffed up with allergies. But my thought is that its trans fluid.

One thing that happened when racing as I mentioned it was my 1st time out on Hoosiers and I experienced a hop a few times transitioning back onto the gas. Now obviously this hop is terrible for just about everything.

Looking around I dont see any cracks on the case. One thing I did notice is that on the driverside the axle seal perhaps may be leaking.

It looks as if the seal is sitting proud. Wonder if it could have worked its way out?

Its hard to capture pictures of it but there is oil all around there as well as on the boot of the axle as well as the boot for the iner tie rod where the rack is. So its as if the seal is leaking and oil is getting flung everywhere from the axle.

I havent pulled it apart but Im thinking of draining the trans fluid tonight to see what it looks like see how much comes out and then maybe just pulling the axle and replacing the seal.

Has anyone seen this seal fail after working fine prior? I figured most of the time they fail with improper R&R of an axle. Any other target areas I should take a look at that come to mind?

 

Looks like an axle seal.

 

That's my best guess as well and hoping that's all it is. Ill start pulling it apart tonight and hopefully get a better view of what Im looking at.

I guess my question is what caused the seal to fail? Could just be a freak incident but one thing that happened for the first time was I experienced significant hopping going on with all the extra grip from the Hoosiers. So my only thought was this it was putting very different loads on the seal and caused it to fail perhaps?

 

Seals go bad occasionally. They don't last forever. It's possible it was nicked last time the axles was removed/installed. It's possible the tension spring just fell off of it

 

I really don't think I nicked it bc Im the only one that touches the car so I made sure to be careful. One thing however that I forgot about was the lil clip for the half shaft gave me some trouble getting it back in last time and I should have ordered a new one but was in a time crunch like always. I did order a new clip so Ill probably just pull it and replace that as well.

I think what you just said about that tension spring falling off is certainly plausible. Ill pull the axle tonight and Ill know for sure if the spring is bad seal is nicked or maybe even notice something else.

I will say that if its just the seal that will make me extremely happy. Im thinking the worst but hoping for the best