Axle Seal leaking..

[fredrader]

I parked the deuce yesterday with it leaning a little to the passenger sit and now I have a little grease on my inside rear wheel..Looks like it has an axle seal leaking :banghead: ..It looks like I'll have to R&R the seal...How hard is it to replace it?? The shop I had my tires done at said $65 a side + seals..

 

[Westech]

you sure its not brake fluid? If its gear oil the seal is not hard to replace at all. just take the hub apart and pop the seal out and a new one in.

 

[Recovry4x4]

There are 2 1/2 seals on each side of the deuce. The one on the back just serves to keep crap out of the bearings and the wheel bearing grease inside. The one in the front by the wheel bearing nuts serves to keep gear oil from the diff out of the bearings. There is also a small cork wedge that goes in the keyway for the same purpose. I refer to that as the 1/2 a seal. If you've got gear oil escaping from the inside seal, the outer seal and cork is probably the culprit. Also make sure your breathers are working. Faulty or clogged breatihers can cause pressure to build up in the diffs and force fluid through the otherwise good seals.

 

[MVtrucker]

Clean and repack the bearings if it turns out that gear lube got into them.

 

[fredrader]

Yea It's 80w90 leaking..I tried to look up seals on satern's site and they only show one axle seal..I'll keep looking though..Thanks guys...Fred

 

[Historic Arms LLC]

How long can you drive on a leaking seal?

Hello all,

I'm a green newbee. I just got my first M 35 and drove it back to Georgia from North Carolina on the 23rd of Dec. I kept my speed at 50mph the whole way.

Next morning I found gear lube on the inside of the passenger middle wheel. No doubt a seal leak. If I keep the fluid level up, can it be drove short distances or do I risk bearing failure?

Looking at the thread I am confidant I can repair it. Can I run to town [less than 10 miles round trip], or do I park until the repair is completed?

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

 

[jimm1009]

You can run to town two or three times but you do want to fix it for two reasons. The first is that if oil is drippinr out then it is also getting on your brake shoes and oily brakes don't have much friction.
2nd reason is that it will eventually ruin the bearings too but
that is not nearly as important as having a wheel that can't stop.
Drive it to town taking it easy and then pull that set of tires off and then the hub & drum.
You may need new brake shoes but I would change the seals when you clean and repack the bearings.
You'll need a torque wrench for the inner and outer nuts to get it right.
It is not a bad job at all.
jimm1009

 

[cessnatwin]

search the articles by Resources on the top bar of the into page, and there is a step by step walk through with pictures in there if I am correct

 

[73m819]

according to the old ord-9 for the m34/34 you snug the inner nut down while turning the drum, at snug, back off 1/8 , put your retainer on then tighten the outer, if you have to, back off the inner a bit (this wont be much) so the retainer fits

 

[clinto]

There is a great thread out there with pictures written by BFR detailing the rear axle seal replacement procedure.

It's pretty easy-pull the axle, pull the drum/hub assy., clean the bearings, repack them, reassemble.

 

[Keith_J]

Most of the M35s will have the hubs nearly packed solid with lube. Why? "Combat relube". But this excessive lube, about 10 hands full will cause more problems than it solves because the gear oil will cross over from out to in, then getting through the inner seal.

Just a thin layer in the hub with bearings packed full, that way the grease has someplace to displace when it gets warm.

 

[Historic Arms LLC]

Just check the lube level???

I am somewhat confused. I checked the gear lube level and it's full?

I then suspected a leaky wheel cylinder on the brakes. After checking the master cylinder it's also full?

Was the axle over filled, and pushed out?

I still have to tear it down and I have seals on the way, but where is the gear lube coming from if the level is not dropping?

Thanks for all the info I've received so far.

 

[Keith_J]

I am somewhat confused. I checked the gear lube level and it's full?

I then suspected a leaky wheel cylinder on the brakes. After checking the master cylinder it's also full?

Was the axle over filled, and pushed out?

I still have to tear it down and I have seals on the way, but where is the gear lube coming from if the level is not dropping?

Thanks for all the info I've received so far.

Gear oil travels down the axle tube during turns or when traversing grades. There will always be some gear oil in the hubs. This will slowly seep into the outer bearing where it does little harm because that bearing only has significant loading on turns, it is adequately lubed with the gear oil/grease mixture.

Now if the hub is full of grease, it can migrate to the inner bearing which carries most of the load. And even worse, if pressure builds, it can seep past the inner seal and slime the brakes, making for a nasty mess.

The differential is adequately lubricated with a gear oil level 3/4-1" below the fill hole, this limits the migration issues. And over-filled differentials also operate hotter.

 

[Historic Arms LLC]

Thank you,

I think I know what's going now.

 

[number9]

I'm gonna be doing an axle seal leak fix this week. Let us know how yours goes.

....

 

[Keith_J]

Yeah, I have a multiple bearing/brake/seal service coming up. At least 2, if not 3 vehicles .

Fortunately, most of the time it is just excessive lube, the seals are just overloaded with grease/pressure. And the old 63B mentality was to pack the hub nearly full, meaning they would be pulling duals in the near future. GAA was cheap, as was shop time.

 

[rattlecan6104]

ouverson engineering has complete axle seal kits, run about $100 an axle. I got a set for each axle since I unfortunately have all 3 axles leaking, just a heads up if you want to go that route.

 

[Keith_J]

The seal that is most likely to fail is the inner, the one pressed onto the axle behind the inner bearing. The outer seal is always much cleaner and nearly always wet, meaning the seal will never burn out. But the inner has brake dust to deal with.

Look at it carefully before replacing, only replace if damaged.