Tools needed:
10mm and 12mm sockets. 1/4" drive worked well for me in the cramped working area.
Medium size flat(regular) screwdriver
Xsacto knife to cut what's left of the rubber boot off of the steering shaft. Perhaps any razor blade will do once you are able to ride the boot up the shaft towards the cab. With the Xsacto you won't need to fish the seal up the shaft.
*Maybe* a Dremel with a 1/8 carbide tile bit. This bit looks like a drill except the where a drill has flutes, this has a rasp. It works great at elongating holes. You can be precise with this bit or something like it. Elongating holes with a drill bit is a little crude and unwieldy.
Get your wheels staight forward. It was suggested to tape the steering wheel from moving. I didn't because I needed some movement. The steering wheel stayed put for me. It was also helpful to be able to tweek the wheel a bit for re-installing the coupling.
When you crawl under your steering column facing up, you'll see that a universal joint coupling connects the steering wheel output shaft to the steering input shaft that exits the firewall. Each end of the universal joint has a split female spline. A bolt (12mm socket) compresses each female onto each male spline. I used an Xsacto knife to scratch match marks on each part for re-installation. However, the input shaft *seemed * to have a failsafe machined into it. Meaning that I think it'll only go on one way. I wouldn't bank on that though. Make match marks anyway.
Remove the bolts (10mm socket) that secure the seal to the firewall. Leave it in place for now.
Remove each bolt on each female spline. There're locking grooves machined into both shafts, so the bolts must come out.
Use the screwdriver to spread the female splines by inserting it into the splits and twisting.
Slide the universal joint coupling down the input shaft towards the firewall. By doing this you'll have disconnected it from the steering wheel output shaft. Flop it down and then back it off of the input shaft. It's now disconnected.
Remove the old seal. Slide the new seal into position, but do not install the bolts yet. Reinstall the universal, but don't install the bolts yet.
** All of the typical commen sense stuff- Apply E- brake, chock the wheels**
At this point I started the truck in order to rotate the steering wheel. I was curious as to whether or not the seal would be centered properly. The holes in the seal flange are clearly larger than the O.D. of the bolts. In my case, not large enough. I lightly threaded both bolts on the seal. The boot was seriouly distorted. I removed the bolts. I then lightly held the seal in place with two fingers and rotated the wheel. The shaft ran slightly eccentric. Maybe a heavy 1/16" or so. However, where the seal sat naturally around the input shaft, it's flange holes would only line up properly with one of the firewall's threaded inserts. It could've been the top or bottom hole depending on which way I rotated the seal. I chose to insert the bolt in the bottom hole. I then eyeballed the top hole where I could only see part of the firewall insert. I used my Xsacto knife to scratch a semi-circle into the flange indicating how much I wanted to elongate the hole in order for it to properly match up to the firewall insert.
I then took the universal coupling and seal off. Used the Dremel with the tile bit to elongate the hole. I shot some lith grease onto seal and re-installed the whole assembly.
*Had I not elongated the holes, I believe that the seal wouldn't have lasted long.
You may want to consult the FSM for proper torque-ing of the bolts. I just socked them down reasonably.
The difference in in-cabin noise is really amazing with the new seal.
