Front Diff Output Shaft Seal
 

Can anyone point me in the direction of a procedure for changing this seal? I have a leak from the RH one on my '02 S8. Seems fairly straight forward but would be useful to know any tricks and torque specs for the fixings. I'm assuming the driveshaft has to be removed completely, which suspension link is easiest to disconnect to do this?

Thanks.

Ere you go. :-). The process is similar for the right hand front, just remove the half shaft inner first. You will probably find it easier to disconnect the 2 lower suspension arms. Disconnect from the sub frame. You will need to cut the rear bolt head off as it is inserted rear to front. Fit the new bolt front to rear. :-)

Many thanks! Had seen that article, and yes as you say procedure looks similar.

Snap my 02 S8 needs either the large O ring doing or the one on the final drive RH side, more likely to be the latter. Must get around to doing it sooner rather than later and replacing the GB filter and oil to along with diff top up.. I use the ELSAwin manual which is the official Audi VAG but they are not always as spot on as you'd imagine although for this job its not too complicated i dont think other than would be useful to get torque specs...

The final drive right side flange shaft bolt is 25 NM

The oil filler plug near to it is 35 NM and shld be renewed.

Source : Elsawin.

Thanks for all the info guys, really appreciated.

Here's some info for anyone planning to do this job…. I removed the big driveshaft hub bolt as you would to remove the driveshaft, and then tried to remove the driveshaft without disconnecting any suspension components (which I did manage on my '03 diesel Passat, contrary to what I read online!), but no luck on the S8. But, I then discovered, once the inner CV joint heat shield (?) is removed, you can move the driveshaft over to the left enough to get full access to the output flange and complete the job without removing the driveshaft at all.

cool. +++