Rear Axle - Rear Hub Oil Seal

[frank drakman]

If anyone else has had this problem and managed to rectify it I would appreciate hearing how you did it...

My rear axle is on the car and I am trying to install the two bearing housings on it. I had a machine shop press the rear hub bearing and oil seal into each bearing housing. In order to get the housing in place I put it on the axle by hand and then put on the lock nut on the end of the axle and and slowly tighten the nut. This pushes the housing slowly and evenly in towards its place. Unfortunately, when the housing appears to be in place the housing will not turn. I am pretty sure what is happening is that the oil seal is not clearing the lip on the axle (which the bearing butts up against, and thus is getting squished as the housing gets pushed 'home'. This squished seal then of course will not allow the housing to turn.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Rob Greaves

[JDF Wessels]

Tammy, I just finished replacing a broken rear axle drive shaft. It was broken because of a warn-out bearing causing the oil return bush to be damaged also, which caused oil to go into the drum. Poor breaking as a result. I used exactly the same methodology, so that can't be it. Looking at the complete construction, I guess the only reason your bearing housing does not turn is because of the bearing is not pressed entirely (deep enough) into its housing. As a consequence, the housing is sitting too much towards the inside of the axle, pressing against the mounting plate part of the brakedrum, or the oil seal is pressed against the rear axle housing with to much force instead of just sealing it of. I experienced that pressing the bearing into its bearing house is a kind of "is it pushed until the end or not" excercise. After some reasoning, we measured the part of the hub going into the bearing housing, which is bolted on the bearing housing. This should measure the same (inclusing the paper gasket) as the distance from the bearing to the outside of the bearing housing. Michael Sherrell's book has a very nice drawing explaining the construction. Ofcourse the bearing must be of the right size, not only in diameter but also in width. I don't think the oil seal is the reason ( as you think it is not clearing the lip). It's only rubber and will be forced over the axle housing if you apply enough pressure, which is needed anyway to fix the bearing. What could be is that the oil seal metal ring is in the way of the bearing, which then causes the bearing not go deep enough into its housing. Is it the correct oil seal? Hope this helps. Frans Wessels Esdoornstraat 8 4043MG Opheusden The Netherlands tel : +31-(0)488-443657

----- Original Message ----- [b]From:[/b] t.greaves@hyperlinx.net [b]To:[/b] mg-tabc@yahoogroups.com [b]Sent:[/b] Saturday, September 08, 2001 10:50 PM [b]Subject:[/b] [mg-tabc] Rear Axle - Rear Hub Oil Seal If anyone else has had this problem and managed to rectify it I would appreciate hearing how you did it... My rear axle is on the car and I am trying to install the two bearing housings on it. I had a machine shop press the rear hub bearing and oil seal into each bearing housing. In order to get the housing in place I put it on the axle by hand and then put on the lock nut on the end of the axle and and slowly tighten the nut. This pushes the housing slowly and evenly in towards its place. Unfortunately, when the housing appears to be in place the housing will not turn. I am pretty sure what is happening is that the oil seal is not clearing the lip on the axle (which the bearing butts up against, and thus is getting squished as the housing gets pushed 'home'. This squished seal then of course will not allow the housing to turn. Any advice would be appreciated. Rob Greaves Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.

[frank drakman]

Re: [mg-tabc] Rear Axle - Rear Hub Oil Seal

----- Original Message ----- [b]From:[/b] peterprod@earthlink.net [b]To:[/b] t.greaves@hyperlinx.net [b]Sent:[/b] Monday, September 10, 2001 9:43 PM [b]Subject:[/b] Re: [mg-tabc] Rear Axle - Rear Hub Oil Seal on 9/8/01 1:50 PM, Tammy Greaves at t.greaves@hyperlinx.net wrote: [quote]If anyone else has had this problem and managed to rectify it I would appreciate hearing how you did it... My rear axle is on the car and I am trying to install the two bearing housings on it. I had a machine shop press the rear hub bearing and oil seal into each bearing housing. In order to get the housing in place I put it on the axle by hand and then put on the lock nut on the end of the axle and and slowly tighten the nut. This pushes the housing slowly and evenly in towards its place. Unfortunately, when the housing appears to be in place the housing will not turn. I am pretty sure what is happening is that the oil seal is not clearing the lip on the axle (which the bearing butts up against, and thus is getting squished as the housing gets pushed 'home'. This squished seal then of course will not allow the housing to turn. Any advice would be appreciated. Rob Greaves Hello Rob - Did you get this problem solved yet? What bearing are you using, and how much force did you use in tightening? Was the tab washer in place? (Grasping at straws here!) Cheers,

Pete I had been using oil seals which I got from Abingdon Spares (made by a company called Chicago Rawhide). I happened to have two oil seals which I had forgotten I had ordered from Moss Motors. I am almost sure the Abingdon ones were getting pinched by the lip of the rear axle. I took them off and replaced with the Moss ones (they appear to have a slightly larger diameter as well as an angled edge which appeared would allow the seal to climb the lip easier. Sure enough the bearing housings went on first time. The housing now turns and I can feel the slight drag of the seal doing its job against the axle housing. Quite a bit of force was used on the lock nut. Thanks for asking, Rob[/quote]