Thanks to all for this piece of inspiritation! While I have worked on solid front drive axles before, I have never worked on such big pieces. Thankfully my ancient tool collection covered the big nuts and bolts encountered.
My addition to this thread is to share my new awareness: In spite of all the technical manuals, access to correct parts and an assumed deep budget, these trucks receive haphazard and incomplete service work while on duty.
During the course of a boot replacement and axle re-seal, I found worn, wrong, broken and missing components alongside newly installed parts. It is a shock to my sensibilities to find incomplete work to this extent. I was astounded and thankful for having the external leakage beckoning me to explore this area of the mechanical soundness!
As a caution to others considering this repair: Do it!!! Use this thread and have the parts manual handy: TM 9-2320-361-24P as well as access to a MV parts supplier. This will be your opportunity to find and remedy bad wheel bearings, wrong parts, missing parts, worn or broken parts and so on!!! I assumed these trucks had better service than they did, and now know differently.
Please read the above as an encouragement and not a rant.
Rick