Oil in my rear drums - possible cause?

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Woody3

Woody3

Active Member
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Location
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Apologies about my long time, no post. Lack of Internet access/moving etc...

Anyway, last year, my 90 failed on the MOT due to axle oil contaminating the N/S/R Brake Shoes/Drum. Fair enough, I knew it was leaking; the back of my wheel was covered in the stuff and I had tried previously to clean it up and see if it was due to blocked breather pipes-it wasn't. Anyway, I paid for it to get repaired and got it through it's MOT.

Not too long later, I noticed it had started to seep down the back of the drum again and spread over the back of the wheel. Today I finally had the time to investigate and this is what I found...

DSCN6908.jpg


DSCN6927-1.jpg


Do you think both front and rear seals around the wheel bearings have done this or something else has failed?

Also, are the bearings meant to move forward and backwards when the seals are still in place? Click to play video:



I'm just about to order new seals/shoes etc, so just want to clarify I'm buying the rate stuff.

My part list so far:

Brake Shoes for both sides (10 inch) - STC2796
1 x Drive Member Gasket - FRC3988
1 x Inner Hub Seal - FTC4785G or RTC3511G?
1 x Outer Hub Seal - FRC8222
1 x Lock washer outer - FRC8002

Am I missing anything?

Thanks :)
 
Last edited:
The tapered bearing races and oil seals will move as they are tightened into position by the bearing nuts.

As long as the knife edge of the seal is sitting on a clean surface it should be OK. For the bearings, I usually rag them up tight and then back the nut off 1/3 turn.
 
As OSD said above regarding the bearings ... almost certainly the inner seal gone for the drum to get contaminated. This happened to mine and soo I took it as my cue to start replacing all the bearings on the back and front over three months. All done now and no leaks anywhere :)
 
Look at the seal in the half shaft, that will be the one that's gone and is filling up the bearing with gear oil, this will then leak out the bearing housing into the drum...
 
Thanks for the replies chaps.

When you say rear halfshaft oil seal, do you mean this seal (well it looks like a seal) as per Busters thread:

rearstubaxlerenewal021.jpg


or number 12 on this diagram:

Rearhubwithshoes.jpg


Cheers
 
Woody3 said:
Thanks for the replies chaps.

When you say rear halfshaft oil seal, do you mean this seal (well it looks like a seal) as per Busters thread:

rearstubaxlerenewal021.jpg


or number 12 on this diagram:

Rearhubwithshoes.jpg


Cheers
Click to expand...

No, that's the inner bearing seal, inside the stub axle (13 on that picture) there is a small oil seal that the half shaft runs in. The diff and shafts spray the oil everywhere right up to ends of the half shafts, if you look at the shafts there are raised section that run in the seal, this stops that oil getting out, these tend to go dry of the years and leak into the bearings. The oil when warm is thin and easily seeps outs the bearing seals.
 
Thanks Jon...

Do I need to remove the stub axle to replace the seal (i.e remove the 6 nuts and bolts) or can it be done in situ?
 
there no seal in stub axle on drum braked axle the outer seal on hub is supposed to keep oil from wheel bearings ,inner seal ftc4785 isnt an oil seal as has no garter spring rtc3511 is and has and often used so as oil can run in bearings without leaking ,300 tdis use seal on halfshaft hence no oil at drive member and ofter worn splines on member and shaft
 
Argh, why does such a simple job turn into either a nightmare or a moneypit?

Just started to swap my brake shoes on the O/S/R brake and noticed a nice rusty hole in the backplate. Ah no worries, I thought. Just nip to Paddocks in the morning to buy one. Oh no I can't...they don't seem to stock them, so did a bit of a google (RTC3166 is the part number) £232+VAT :eek: at Craddocks. Are we sure? For a bit of pressed steel?

Now what do I do? I've bought the shoes and replacement seals to repair the axle leak, cost about £30 all in, so not the end of the world, but should I now swap over to a disk braked axle on the back? Thoughts? Or are the backplates cheaper elsewhere?
 
Just a quick update:

Original axle is off and new axle is being prepped up.

I assume it's a good idea to change wheel bearings etc while it's in pieces. However, when I took the hub nut, lock washer, adjustment nut and spacer off, there wasn't a seal. It basically went straight to the bearings. Is this right?

Secondly, my lower link arm bushes are stuck to the lower link arms. Well, I've prized the bush off, but it has left the large plate on the link arm,which seems to be held in position by a sleeve that slots over the thread. Does this sleeve unscrew, as it doesn't want to come off? All the bushes I've seen online are fixed to the mounting that fixes to the chassis by three bolts.

And thirdly, I looked down the halfshaft of the disc braked axle, but couldn't see a seal. It's a 10 spline, did these have a halfshaft seal?

Reckon that is it for now...Thanks
 
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