You must remove the carrier. The seals are on the outer sides of the differential housing just outside the bearing races for the carrier. The way this works on a non-disconnect axle is you remove the differential cover (have something handy to drain remaining oil) then both the front axles can be removed (they just slide out) after removing the axle hubs.
At this point you are ready to remove the 4 bolts that hold the bearing caps in place. These caps are keyed to the differential housing so study this carefully for re-assembly (mine had a right side up J on the housing and one cap and a sideways J on the other side and cap). When you remove these caps you are ready to pull the carrier straight out along with the bearing races on the sides. It sort of takes a finesse but you reach out with a couple fingers on each side and keep the races with the carrier to keep them from falling on the ground and getting mixed up. The carrier weighs about 10-15lbs. so be ready for it. Have a clean and lint free area to put the carrier and races. I wrapped mine in a towel and put it in a clean plastic bag.
You are now ready to proceed with the removal of the seals. I used an appropriately sized PVC pipe to knock them out. They have to be knocked out into the differential housing. Needless to say after they are out you will have to do some cleaning of the housing to get any grit and slime out. This would be a good time to clean out the axle tubes too. I used a rag and a broomhandle as a ram-rod, sort of like cleaning a big rifle.
To install the new seals ($12.76 each from the dealer) I used a 36mm spindle nut socket to drive it into the axle. I used a long threaded rod with a 1/4" thick washer and a nut. The rod was placed into the axle and through the square 1/2" drive hole on the socket. Now while I steered the socket an assistant threaded another nut down onto a larger 1/4 steel washer on the outside of the axle. I just swapped everything to the other side and did the same thing, that's it.
I did another final cleaning on the housing and replaced the carrier and its bearing races and bearing caps. Torqued the bearing cap bolts to 45lbs. I then replaced the axles by carefully supporting them while installing them to prevent damaging the new seals. I lightly lubed the ends of the axles with gear lube to facilitate sliding into the seal without damaging it. The three axle hub retaining bolts are torqued to 75lbs. and finally the axle nut is torqued to 175lbs.
I did all this in the space of a weekend, however, I also did the ball joints and axle u-joints and trac-bar while I had everything apart. It rides like a new Jeep now and it no longer leaks any lube out the axle. My axles have 155,000 miles on them and there were no grooves in the smooth sealing surface that contacts the seal. If you notice grooving at the sealing surface on the axle, the only way to fix it is to replace the axle.
HTH,
Mark
