mad85

mad85

Active Member
hello all! driver side hub seal is leaking and no matter what i do, i cant seem to fix it! The shaft is a heavy duty Ashcroft shaft. It did not come with new sealing shield but i did have an engineer make me a new one to be sure that wasnt causing the leak. I did replace the seal a few times to be sure and the ball joints are also new. ball joints are lemforder and i always used genuine lr seals. the only thing that i can think off is if there is some sort of adjustment that can be done to the axle. noticed there is a nut at the bottom, apart from that im truely stuck!

1724081961113.png
 
measure the seal's ID and the shaft's OD with caliper... if the seal is not at least 0.5mm larger it will fail in no time...they messed up these seals at a time and after a half a dozen of them failed on mine(genuine included) i got the shaft machined down with 0.5mm and it's been OK since with some aftermarket seals( many years had passed)
 
sierrafery said:
measure the seal's ID and the shaft's OD with caliper... if the seal is not at least 0.5mm larger it will fail in no time...they messed up these seals at a time and after a half a dozen of them failed on mine(genuine included) i got the shaft machined down with 0.5mm and it's been OK since with some aftermarket seals( many years had passed)
Click to expand...
interesting, so the ID of the seal should be a little larger than the od of the shaft? how will it seal then?
 
mad85 said:
interesting, so the ID of the seal should be a little larger than the od of the shaft? how will it seal then?
Click to expand...
that's how they work the "lips" are sealing on the shaft when the hub is tigthened while if it's tight from the beginning the shaft "chewes" the rubber in no time... maybe it doesnt seem logical but that's how it happens

before this whole mess the genuine seals had 36mm ID while the shafts left the factory with 35mm OD that's a fact

see the aulro link here https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/front-drive-shaft-seal.269569/post-3268328
 
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sierrafery said:
that's how they work the "lips" are sealing on the shaft when the hub is tigthened while if it's tight from the beginning the shaft "chewes" the rubber in no time... maybe it doesnt seem logical but that's how it happens

before this whole mess the genuine seals had 36mm ID while the shafts left the factory with 35mm OD that's a fact

see the aulro link here https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/front-drive-shaft-seal.269569/post-3268328
Click to expand...
thanks for the explanation, that makes sense
 
mad85 said:
thanks, will order some NAK seals and have a go at those though
Click to expand...
when they come do the measurements and if there's not at least 0.5mm difference betwen the shaft's OD and seal's ID all your work to replace them will be in vain, believe me or not
 
sierrafery said:
see this too https://landroverforums.com/forum/d...haft-seal-leaking-due-incorrect-sizing-68664/ and make sure that the seal is fitted like shown in post #21 ...let us know the outcome
Click to expand...
one thing that i did notice though is that the seals as shown in this thread look completely destroyed. in my case they leak a little fluid (not enough that i have to refill frequently but it does wet the lower ball joint, caliper and inside of the tyre) and the seal itself looks intact
 
mad85 said:
one thing that i did notice though is that the seals as shown in this thread look completely destroyed. in my case they leak a little fluid (not enough that i have to refill frequently but it does wet the lower ball joint, caliper and inside of the tyre) and the seal itself looks intact
Click to expand...
for this tight seals issue they dont leak right away but after more(or less) driving and they are supposed to be visibly hurt... if your's are intact there might be some other issue... a crack or something... do they leak the same both sides?
 
sierrafery said:
for this tight seals issue they dont leak right away but after more(or less) driving and they are supposed to be visibly hurt... if your's are intact there might be some other issue... a crack or something... do they leak the same both sides?
Click to expand...
passenger side has been fine for years. driver side starts leaking after a month or so. i have not notices any cracks and i even tried to put a tiny smear of rtv between the axle housing and the seal. however, when i replace them they are not visibly destroyed as in the picture. that is why i think the swivel hub alignment is the problem i actually have.

i found this video of a person attempting to adjust the swivel hub using a simple diy tool so i might try that when i have a minute!

 
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sierrafery said:
measure the seal's ID and the shaft's OD with caliper... if the seal is not at least 0.5mm larger it will fail in no time...they messed up these seals at a time and after a half a dozen of them failed on mine(genuine included) i got the shaft machined down with 0.5mm and it's been OK since with some aftermarket seals( many years had passed)
Click to expand...
measured the ID of genuine and oem seals and they are indeed 35.4mm
 
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sierrafery said:
In the good days they were all 36 i'm sure
Click to expand...
finally got the NAK ones and indeed they are 35.9mm. will be putting it on next week hopefully as im going on a short overlanding trip tomorrow morning and doesnt make sense risking taking things apart today o_O
 
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That youtube video seems like a clumsy way of checking alignment.

If you could machine an aluminium dummy seal with clearance fit ID and OD you could just attempt to dry fit the shaft and wheel bearing. If it is not centered it would just be obvious and you could adjust accordingly. Has anyone done it this way?
 
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