I have had a slight weep from the nose of my diff (english) for a while. I assumed it was the pinion oil seal and I had somehow bodged fitting it.

However, I removed the prop and found a fair amount of oil had collected between the diff and prop flanges. So the oil must be coming out between the pinion shaft splines and the flange.
Is there supposed to be some sort of seal here or does it rely on the nut to seal it? Anyone come accross this one before?

BR,
Toby

Snap - exactly the same problem. I took the nut off at the weekend and the flange and replaced them- waiting for drips!!

Is the breather clear?

Easiest way to fix the problem is to remove the nut and washer, apply a liberal amount of liquid gasket to the thread, and face of the flange, and then bolt it all back together. Job done. HTH, Ray

quote:

---

Originally posted by tobymack
I have had a slight weep from the nose of my diff (english) for a while. I assumed it was the pinion oil seal and I had somehow bodged fitting it.

---

I could just use sealant but I don't remember that being ford practice so I thought something else might be wrong.

I'll check the breather- thanks for that suggestion.

02GF74: I am not sure I understand you. Which bit are you talking about replacing? The pinion and shaft itself or the seal or what? I'll have a look at the manual again tonight to see if I can make sense of it.

BR
Toby

You can get oil migrate down the splines, even though they are a fairly good fit. This is why using the liquid gasket, (see above), does the trick. The one thing that is essential is that there must be a washer under the nut, so that it can seal the end of the splines. HTH Ray.

MAJOR WARNING

****** Don't take the nut off *****

Only take the nut that holds the pinion flange off if you know what you are doing AND have the new seal ready to fit.

I have posted the "in service" procedure for replacing a pinion oil seal on a Ford engish or most other hypoid axles many times do a search and read and understand the procedure before touching the nut or you will end up replacing the crush washer or worse being forced into doing a full rebuild.


Don't muck about with hypoid final drives unless you really know what you are doing



Most oil leaks from Ford axles are due to a combination ofover filling and blocked breathers --- obvious but only check the level via the plug when the car is level both fore and aft and left to right AND allow any over fill to drain off.



[Edited on 12/1/07 by britishtrident]

Good call britishtrident,

Why do people feel the need to take the flange off? If the seal is not leaking there's no benefit and can cause considerable harm to your wallet later on.

Its easier to get a new diff. Just take them off the donor and bolt them in your motor...

vroom vroom

I'd only take the flange of if I had a problem. Which in this case I appear to have...
Fitting a spare diff would indeed be easier, I even have one in my shed. Unfortunately the spare one doesn't have an ATB fitted...

Seriously though. Yes a good warning. However, in my case I have already rebuilt the diff once so I doubt I will make it worse taking it apart again

Hi as said above if you ever remove the nut it will require a rebuild as the unit using the crushable spacer is a once only fit.

When you get oil leaks down the spline or a loose nut it is ussually because the spacer has continued to crush during use so the diff needs a rebuild anyhow before you scrap the crown wheel or pinion.

cheers matt

PS expected prices for a rebuild should be roughly £100 depending on bearings required.

For a rebuild with all the trick little mods to make it last longer and take more abuse ussualy £120 Ish.

plenty of companys and people around who can reliably do the job but also an awful lot of people and companys that bodge it so carfull research if having a rebuild.

[Edited on 13/1/07 by procomp]

Replacing the oil seal is a very easy job I used to do them in 15 minutes back in the hay days of the Mk1/MK2 Escort vans but it isn't simply a case of undoing the nut pulling the flange changing the seal and tightening up the nut.
The nut that holds the flange is used to load the crush washer which adjusts the pinnion. Also the procedure for setting up with a new crush washer can't be used with a used crush washer.


The full procedure varies between axle types but following "in service" procedure will work on any final drive.
The main thing you have to watch is that you don't squeeze the crush washer when retightening the nut,
Clearly mark the nut, pinion shaft and flange before you start and count the EXACT number of turns required to undo the nut. It is best not to use a socket for this job but a large offset ring spanner so you can see the marks clearly. Remove flange and lever out seal with a screw driver. Then carefully old seal press the new one home using a very large socket as a tup, replace flange and refit the nut using Locktite retighten using exactly the same number of turns until the marks align exactly.

[Edited on 14/1/07 by britishtrident]