argghhh I wrecked my front diff head

well actually it still works (sort of)

decided to put that new pinion seal in today. searched on here and read up on it in the Haynes manual. lots of people said its an easy job so I grabbed a few spanners and had a go.

everything was going well until I got to the "seal" I tried to pry it out but the metal that held it together bent.. then I realised that the seal didn't have any metal bits on it :doh: read the haynes manual again and realised my diff was slightly different from their diagram

(think they showed the earlier rover diff)

had a good look and the metal bit I bent was the face that the seal was supposed to mate up to its all bent now so I didn't even bother putting my new seal up against THAT.


im thinking I probably need a new diff head. bad timing though as I have no spare money and need the vehicle in the next few days



now im smacking myself in the head lol, how could I be that stupid.

I think what you've removed is an original seal which was metal and cork, absolute bitch to get out. The new seals are rubber with a small spring.
It doesn't need a metal plate over it. Make sure you have the new seal dripping in EP90 as you put it all back together or the friction will kill it in minutes.

if you have removed drive flange as you look at the diff pinion shaft will be poking out with seal just below diff casting,the seal has metal inside the rubber just prise it out and fill hollow side of seal with grease or vaseline before tapping new one in place to hold garter spring,early diffs had a seperate housing for seal that could be unbolted and seal knocked out from the back ,this has a metal short tube which can be removed as it is for keeping dirt away from seal with metal shield on flange,if this is the type you have you can still remove seal from aluminum housing and fit seal and replace shield later part number 236546

Spyderman said:

I think what you've removed is an original seal which was metal and cork, absolute bitch to get out. The new seals are rubber with a small spring.
It doesn't need a metal plate over it. Make sure you have the new seal dripping in EP90 as you put it all back together or the friction will kill it in minutes.

Click to expand...

its a metal flange, about 1mm down from the diff housing.
had some metal washers, a corrugated spring thing and some leather bits that where broken.

so is this what the seal should mate against, or is this stuff supposed to come out?

what was left of the old seal was leather

JCS1991 said:

its a metal flange, about 1mm down from the diff housing.
had some metal washers, a corrugated spring thing and some leather bits that where broken.

so is this what the seal should mate against, or is this stuff supposed to come out?

what was left of the old seal was leather

Click to expand...

You're right, it was leather not cork, all I remember is that it was a bitch to get it out. There was bits of metal in it for sure.

jamesmartin said:

if you have removed drive flange as you look at the diff pinion shaft will be poking out with seal just below diff casting,the seal has metal inside the rubber just prise it out and fill hollow side of seal with grease or vaseline before tapping new one in place to hold garter spring,early diffs had a seperate housing for seal that could be unbolted and seal knocked out from the back ,this has a metal short tube which can be removed as it is for keeping dirt away from seal with metal shield on flange,if this is the type you have you can still remove seal from aluminum housing and fit seal and replace shield later part number 236546

Click to expand...

I have a later diff.

I am thinking that the part on the right side (with the arrow pointing at it) is stuck inside the diff casing.

if that is the cast I have no idea how to remove it, its so firmly wedged that I became convinced it was part of the diff casing LOL

Spyderman said:

You're right, it was leather not cork, all I remember is that it was a bitch to get it out. There was bits of metal in it for sure.

Click to expand...

hmm, well at least I havn't actually wrecked anything. by the way which way should the new seal face?

hollow side inwards fill with grease or such first

jamesmartin said:

hollow side inwards fill with grease or such first

Click to expand...

cheers, now to get that piece of metal out