Diff pinion oil seal

Hello all,

Just fitted a Genuine LR part and after 1,500 miles its blown again! Before I order more parts is there anything there that might be causing it to fail. When I had it in bits before I checked the drive flange surface where it meets the oil seal and it looked to be in good nick....

D

Dunno specifically but things to make quality seals fail early are :- going in dry (oo err missus etc); wear ridge at the seal lip contact; bearing wear causing lateral shaft movement.

Is the pinion within spec? If its close to lower tolerance, you could try tightening the garter spring (if accessible) a little. Bit of a bodge but I've seen several qualified people do it so I assume it's withing the realms of acceptability.

The pinion _felt_ ok...once I'd done it up. The reason I'd stripped it last time was that the retaining castle nut had unwound itself due to PO not fitting a split pin! When I torqued it back up it all felt ok but I didn't strip it down for a proper look.

There was no wear ridge and it all fitted nice and tight.

What would you prime with, grease or ep80? I think I packed the bearing and seal with grease last time when I fitted (might have been grease mixed with ep80 I can't remember)...

I did notice that the old seal that came out had a metal band but the (so called) geniuine new one didn't. I've just ordered a Corteco one from Craddocks this time and will see if that is better.

Is it lip in or lip out on the diff seal?

Cheers

D

Check your axle breathers are not blocked. Build up of pressure during use can cause the deals to blow

Will do. They should be ok I unblocked them when I did the seals and not been wading since...though I suppose there's been plenty of salt on the roads

frc8220 seal is perfect ,its not unusual to find even a decent seal not last long

plugged vent for the diff

The other tohing to make very sure of is that the seal is perpendicular to the bit it's running on - being off-side or cocked can cause the seal lip to wear badly or even tear.

So, make sure the recess is clean and that the seal goes in nice and straight.

ajr

i had this same probolem on my back diff when i put it in,and all breathers are fine,and the seal was in flush! but my down fall was using a britpart seal,hahaha stuuuupid!

Thanks all,

James - will a FRC8220 fit a series I got a Corteco FRC4586G from Craddocks.

Sounds like it might have been me fitting it badly. One last question is it lip in or lip out?

D

Pretty sure it's 'lip in' so that the seal potentially enlarges marginally with pressure.
Hopefully someone can confirm for 100% before you fit!

dominicbeesley said:

Thanks all,

James - will a FRC8220 fit a series I got a Corteco FRC4586G from Craddocks.

Sounds like it might have been me fitting it badly. One last question is it lip in or lip out?

D

Click to expand...

yes it fits ok ,concave inwards

Land Raver said:

Pretty sure it's 'lip in' so that the seal potentially enlarges marginally with pressure.
Hopefully someone can confirm for 100% before you fit!

Click to expand...

in theory or a hydraulic ram etc yes lip is pressed against seal surface

Bugger it I had a 50/50 chance and I got it wrong...I did pop the end off another diff (that didn't leak) and that was lip out! Oh well will see if it works. The leaking one looked and felt ok but when I got it out the spring was mashed up. I don't think I did that when I took it off, instead it seemed to have popped off and got wrapped around the splines...

thats why you grease garter spring in place, to stop it popping off while tapping seal in as you cant tell after seal is fitted

Aye, I thought I had. I packed the back of the seal with grease last time. This time because I fitted it backwards I could see that the bugger was still on. Ho hum. I bought two seals anyway and its not the worst job in the world probably only took 20 minutes including the usual 10 minute hunt for a suitable split-pin...