Ok been pondering this a few days. From what I understand when you go to a 1 piece axle instead of a 2 piece axle shaft there isn’t really a spot for the seal on the passenger side. Rather than half @$$ dremelin in a spot, or sending it down the pumpkin tube with no place to bump up to, why can’t you send it down the outside axle shaft of the tube and have it bump up against the outside shaft seal? It would give it a stop plus would hold it in place not allowing it to shimmy so to speak and fail? Or better yet does anyone make an outside seal with the inside axle dimensions? Has anyone tried this?
I'm not sure I understand what you're asking. You're looking for a place to install the seal up against, which I get. But I'm not sure what you mean by outside axle shaft of the tube, and bumping up against the outside shaft seal?
In stock form, there are only two seals in the entire front axle (other than the pinion). There is one at the pumpkin for the left side, and one at the CAD for the right side. The CAD seal is installed from inside the CAD, and pulled towards the tire to seat.
The center section (between pumpkin and CAD) is an empty tube from the pumpkin right up to where the CAD starts. There is a wall with a hole in it that the center axle shaft runs through. That hole has a bushing installed into it to support the center axle shaft. So let's say you hammered in the seal from the diff and didn't stop....eventually that seal would butt up against the wall with the hole in it.
What I'm missing is where you're trying to install the seal alternatively. I think you're saying you want to hammer the seal into the axle from the tire end and hammer it until it hits the CAD stock seal and stop there? Technically it wouldn't hit the seal, as the seal is installed from the CAD box side, not the exterior side. You also can't start from the tire end because that won't be the right location on the axle shaft where the axle shaft is machined smooth for a seal.
You can't hammer the seal from the diff all the way down to the wall with the hole because that also will not be the proper location on the axle shaft for a seal to ride.
The axle shaft is only machined for a seal in the smooth section near the splines. The only location a seal can be installed, is at the diff, hammered to the right depth (so it lands on the smooth part) and left alone. I definitely understand the concerns, and I don't love the 11800 seal either, but people have been doing the 1 piece swap for a while... you should be fine.
