Sometimes, the best way to look at your rig is from a worm's-eye-view.
I was crawling around underneath recently and noticed some new oil spatters I'd never seen before. The spatter pattern pointed right to the rearend's pinion seal. There are a lot of hard miles on this 9-inch and I've performed exactly zero maintenance, other than occasionally checking underneath to make sure the suspension bolts were tight.
Going to the experts for seal replacement saved time and sanity; Tony Sato at Currie Enterprises made an opening in his hectic schedule, and we put the 'Runner up on the lift at the Currie shop.
Tony first pulled the bolts from the driveshaft's drive flange, then got out the impact gun and zipped the pinion nut off, freeing the drive flange.
The drive flange was then pulled off, providing access to the pinion seal.