confused over front half shaft oil seals. Help please!!!

Hi guys and gals, im new on here and my terminology may not be correct so i apologise now!
I am restoring a s3 swb and when stripping the front axel i found only one side of the half shaft(s) (the longer one) had an extra bush or spacer on the end which i assume retains the inner bearing race and also is the oil seal for the axel case, too swivel assembly? if this is correct then why isnt there the oil seal on the shorter side? The part number for the item is 90217398 if you wish to have a look. Any advice would be really great, Thankyou!

some one forgot when previously repairing ?

First of all :welcome2: and I hope you enjoy the forum.
There should be an oil seal between the axle and swivel housing on both ends, although I have known one or two people that left them out assuming that the diff oil would run in and keep the swivels topped up!! :doh::doh:

If you can, replace both of the oil seals as soon as you can, and fit a pair of correct bushes!

Hi Thanks for the quick reply guys, and thankyou for the welcome!
Yeah I where wondering if it had been left off previously and I can see some people thinking diff oil would do the job lot haha. But I want it done right! ;-) I have a feeling the shaft had only been machined to the length of the inner bearing race thoe so I hope when I get a new oil seal bush it soo fit properly :-/. Il keep posted how I get on with it!