so I decided to tackle my rear drum brake job and leaking axle seals today. took pass. side brakes apart, removed diff cover (found its a full floating), so removed axle shaft. my question is do I have to start taking out the locknut, bearings, etc. to get to the seal? take the hub off? I don't want to mess with bearing preloads and all that if I don't have to.

thought this would be an easy job. confused now.

also, when replacing wheel cylinders, how do you keep all the brake fluid from leaking out of the line?