I recently replaced my ball joints and after about a week I noticed that the passenger side inner axle seal had started leaking, unfortunately that didn't happen before I had everything apart...oh well, it's a learning process. Anyway, I ordered replacement inner axle seals and watched a million videos and decided I can do it myself. I've found one video that briefly touched on a rod that is on the back side of the gears that activates the lockers in the Rubicon. Really, all the video said was "don't break it". So my question is this... is it obvious how the rod is supposed to be positioned when I put the gears back in, do I just need to go slow and not force anything or is there some special technique to getting it back together? Have any of you tackled this and do you have any suggestions or a link, videos, etc that I can check out?

Thank you in advance for any help or guidance!!!

 

Within the past month someone posted a picture and a solution for holding the locker rod in place but I can't find it and I didn't file it as I don't have a Rubi locker. The inner axle seal tool makes life easier. Also, former dealership tech helped me put in a set and recommended some RTV around the seal where it meets the axle. While I can't say that's the magic sauce, I've not had issues.

 

You very well may have damaged the seal when you put the shaft back in after the BJ install. The "rod" is actually the plunger that signals if the locker is engaged or not. It's not a difficult task. When you put the carrier back in, just wedge a small piece of something in the plunger to hold it extended (will hold it "open" towards the passenger side). Put a long zip tie on whatever you use and you can then easily pull that object out once the locker is in place. If you don't do this, a lot of people jam the locker back in and bend that plunger in the process. Take everything out of the diff, keep careful track of where everything was, and put everything back just were it was originally. torque everything to spec