oil leaking out of half shaft

I couldn't get the bolt off to fill up my axle with oil, so, i jacked up one side and poured it down the half shaft hole... guessing on quantity.

I've now parked it on the kerb ready to go out soon for the MOT and have oil leaking out of the felt seal at the end of the half shaft.

Is this because i've over filled it? Or is the felt seal just not doing it's job, or, have i done something else wrong?

Or was my method of filling just completely wrong and i'm actually running the diff dry :S

Bump said:

I couldn't get the bolt off to fill up my axle with oil, so, i jacked up one side and poured it down the half shaft hole... guessing on quantity.

I've now parked it on the kerb ready to go out soon for the MOT and have oil leaking out of the felt seal at the end of the half shaft.

Is this because i've over filled it? YES Or is the felt seal just not doing it's job,YES or, have i done something else wrong YES?

Or was my method of filling just completely wrong and i'm actually running the diff dry POSSIBLY :S

Click to expand...

Assuming yu put oil in there.... how do you know how much was needed?
It is likely you overfilled it - but who knows

The oil will have gone to the right place (if it's the rear axle), just too much of it by the sounds of it! You're gonna have to get the filler/level plug out, one way ort 'nother, or drain it and redo what you just did with the right capacity maybe?

Over filled. Filler plug should come out - try a ring spanner that's a tight fit on the square plug and apply a hammer to the end, it should go.

Or use a half inch ratchet drive with a Removable square drive.

for a standard rover rear axle on a series it takes roughly 1+3/4 litres of oil

any more than 2 litres and it will **** out the seals


on another note check yer axle breathers are clear as the pressure build up could be forcing oil past the felt seals

oil be doing what they said

breather is fine - new raised air intake inserted and new pipe - all fine.


Just put a sensible amount in, concluded more was better than less


The filler seems to be something around a 27mm socket fitting, located on the "nose" part of the axle... But it won't shift, it's just killing it

Maybe i should drill and tap a new one in somewhere - or just roll the axle over and fill through the drain plug.

Alternativly fill through the breather hole. Will be slow process though and you cant check the level. The felt seals are rubbish. I always push them well in and put some sealant between them and the half shaft nut washer for good measure

Sorry to Hijack your thread but I felt this the most appropriate to ask a question.
I have had a lot of oil spew out of somewhere in the back axle/hub, coating the entire inner drum and shoes. I have got a new drum, shoes, wheel cylinder etc coming and I am also replacing the felt seals around the half shaft.
On digging in my garage I found some felt seals but they appear different to the ones currently on the half shaft. The ones currently on the half shaft appear to be made up of, felt then a rubber backing. The ones I have found are made up as follows. Felt, rubber, another section of felt and a then a thicker piece of rubber backing.

Which are the correct ones??

Cheers in advance

A half inch short socket extension fits the drain plug. It shouldn’t be too tight to unscrew with a standard socket wrench unless it’s been put in wrongly and is threaded.

What axle is it and what does the level plug look like?

John S said:

A half inch short socket extension fits the drain plug. It shouldn’t be too tight to unscrew with a standard socket wrench unless it’s been put in wrongly and is threaded.

Click to expand...

It was 7 year ago when the op posted the problem, he may of fixed it by now, lol

Vilkie boy sounds like hub oil seal and probably worn land on stub shaft along with possible to much slack in bearing.
Remove hub replace seal if early stub axle land can be replaced [ bit the seal runs on] late stub axles cost a bfortune and rarer than rocky horse poo.

I'll read the dates next time!!