Today I had the vehicle up on stands to replace the exhaust system, so thought I might as well pull the half shaft and have a look at the axle O ring seal following blowing out the axle breather and clearing the hole into the rear axle casting. The oil seal was somewhat shredded which would have been the cause of the leak. Could have been it caught when I was installing the half shaft last time maybe. The old hub was cleaned up around the O ring retaining groove, where corrosion had started to take a hold, greased and a new O ring installed, hopefully more carefully this time.
Maybe someone can explain how the sealing works, for as I see it oil can still enter into the rear of the main bearing (the ABS sensor ring cavity was full) then exit at the front of the bearing? Does the main bearing have an internal oil seal maybe?
Incidentally I tried to drill out the broken back plate retaining bolt whilst this lot was stripped down. After innumerable drill breakages I gave up and concurred that the tiny bolt is indeed made of Tungsten and not for mere mortals like myself to drill and remove. It's remains are deeply buried in the axle casting and a blob of blue bubble gum now holds the back plate in place.
Why do I feel I will be revisiting this part of the damn car again soon?
