P38A Leaky axle seal woes

Maat said:

P38A 2.5DSE '99

Bought it with a leaking front axle seal, I didn't think much of it as I knew they are easy and cheap to replace. I did replace it, it did stop leaking, my guess is for around 70 miles or so, and now it leaks again. Plenty.

First I thought I'll just re-do my work, maybe polish the mating surface on the halfshaft this time. I must mention I was very careful whilst fitting the new one in, it went in square, using the old one on top gently tapping it with a small hammer. I even greased it a bit and was careful fitting the halfshaft in slowly.

But I read about it aa bit on the forum and I've found that other people had similar problems due to a misaligned swivel hub? I don't know much about this, how would I go about realigning it? I heard the proper tool for the job is about 1k quid but that it can be improvised? I have access to a lathe if its any help.

Thanks in advance

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Grrrrrr said:

Yes, you're right. If someone played with the alignment that would rub the seal. Good call on polishing the half-shaft.

I think the late Wammers published the specs of the special tool somewhere, possibly in the Technical Section. There is a bodgit on a YouTube video where someone uses a bearing and some plastic pipe to make sure the hole in the axle lines up with the hole in the hub.

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Grrrrrr said:

Yes, you're right. If someone played with the alignment that would rub the seal. Good call on polishing the half-shaft.

I think the late Wammers published the specs of the special tool somewhere, possibly in the Technical Section. There is a bodgit on a YouTube video where someone uses a bearing and some plastic pipe to make sure the hole in the axle lines up with the hole in the hub.

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Maat said:

I don't think anybody touched it. I'm wondering if they can misalign themselves? And I'm almost sure nobody ever took the wheel hub off on this one.

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Datatek said:

Are the swivels OK?

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Maat said:

I don't know how to answer to this due to my lack of understanding the terminology. We know that this car doesn't have swivel balls like the D1, Defender or RRC, but a boot over the CV joint. If you mean what I earlier called "swivel hub", - please correct me if it's named differently (steering knuckle perhaps?) - the part that the wheel hub is bolted on, then yes, it looks fine. Rusty, but not visibly damaged or visibly out of alignment. The ball joints holding it look okay as well, and they look like they haven't been changed in at least a decade. The car hasn't been driven off road so I'm wondering how does this happen... the previous owner sold it to us knowing it has a leaking seal, we talked about it, but I don't think he ever tried to change it as the bolts all looked untouched in ages - I got a bag full of rust from the job.

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Datatek said:

The swivels are the parts that the hub mounts on and allow it to turn. If the swivels are original, they are quite likely to be worn allowing lateral movement of the hub assembly which would not do the seal a lot of good. If they are not original, then quite likely the adjustment for the lower swivel has been messed with either accidentally or deliberately.
View attachment 290437

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Maat said:

Thank you for the clarification. Why would someone deliberately mess with it?

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Datatek said:

When changing the lower swivel, it's quite easy for the adjustment to move unintentionally, so a mark should should always be made showing the position of the slot in the adjuster at the start of the removal operation. So if the swivels have been changed, it's likely the adjuster has moved.

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Mark Piercy said:

What's it got to do with me

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