I recently found that my '86 Camaro's diff is leaking where the drive shaft goes into it. It's the standard 10-bolt rear end. How easy would this be to fix sitting in my driveway, or would I be better off taking it somewhere. I've never had to do anything with a driveshaft. I couldn't find any articles on doing this job on the website unless I'm not looking in the right spot. Are there any?

 

If (this is a big if) the rear end is totally quiet, and by that I mean it makes no noise whatsoever under any conditions, then you could possibly fix it by changing the seal. If it makes any noise at all, your chances are somewhere between slim and none that you will have any success at band-aiding it.

Mark the pinion gear and the nut before you take them apart; make a tool from a piece of about 1½" x ¼" steel about 3' long, with 2 holes at one end along the edge such that you can bolt it onto the yoke where one of the U-joint caps would ordinarily go (you can use a U-joint cap strap as a template) where it doesn't keep a 1¼" socket from going onto the nut; eat a good breakfast; take the nut off, using the aforementioned 1¼" socket and a good long breaker bar, and the tool bolted onto the yoke with 2 of the U-joint bolts; replace the seal in the usual way; and put the nut back on using the tool, turning it about ¼" past the mark you made. It may take 150 ft-lbs or more of torque on the nut to get it to go on the right amount.

Usually though, the reason the seal leaks is because the bearings are bad. Replacing those bearings requires more work, basically the same thing as setting up a new gear, and would be best left to a pro.