Hub leak

Having redone the rear drum brakes and wheel bearings on my 200tdi 90. There seams to be a slight leak from the dust cap via the end of the half shaft after its first run on both wheels. I was probably slightly excessive with the bearing grease when I did the bearings.

We drove for about 3hrs

it’s on both wheels. Not a huge amount?

Would be odd for both front seals to fail, tho they were tight and had to be tapped in using an old seal.

Any thoughts?

payydg said:

Having redone the rear drum brakes and wheel bearings on my 200tdi 90. There seams to be a slight leak from the dust cap via the end of the half shaft after its first run on both wheels. I was probably slightly excessive with the bearing grease when I did the bearings.

We drove for about 3hrs

it’s on both wheels. Not a huge amount?

Would be odd for both front seals to fail, tho they were tight and had to be tapped in using an old seal.

Any thoughts?

Click to expand...

I put a bead of silicone around the edge of the cap when I take mine off and replace them. They don’t seem to leak.

+ 1 on the above.

Show off.

oil in your axle indeed

Actually one is constantly leaking. I’m guessing I’ve ****ed the front seal?

payydg said:

Actually one is constantly leaking. I’m guessing I’ve ****ed the front seal?

Click to expand...

Sounds like it, although shouldn’t the rubber hub cap be able to contain the leak if it was in good shape?

bluedog333 said:

Sounds like it, although shouldn’t the rubber hub cap be able to contain the leak if it was in good shape?

Click to expand...

I replaced them with new **** part ones that don’t actually seal that well

payydg said:

I replaced them with new **** part ones that don’t actually seal that well

Click to expand...

Ahh, right. Probably best to get the seal sorted anyway (were they Britpart by any chance?). I pay a bit extra for the genuine hub caps, the rubber seems to make a decent seal.

bluedog333 said:

Ahh, right. Probably best to get the seal sorted anyway (were they Britpart by any chance?). I pay a bit extra for the genuine hub caps, the rubber seems to make a decent seal.

Click to expand...

Cortico OEM seals. Never skimp on bearings or seal but occasionally go blue box on other stuff.

Hmmmm back now after a trip to the highlands. Both are leaking a lot. The wheel rim is soaked. Nothing out the brake drum so assuming it’s mostly from the drive flange. Odd that both would leak so much. Looks a combo of EP90 and bearing grease. I’ve done this job a few times and never had issues so not sure what I’ve done wrong. Will take one apart and see what’s what.

will check axel breather as well

Axle breather is important, check mine on a regular basis.

I would also revisit the rubber end caps. As stated above they themselves should not leak and although not designed to be do work as seals themselves and keep the oil and grease form coming out the end. But they need to be a good tight fit and a flexible rather than a rigid rubber. I have used britpart ones in the past that were very good but the last one I fitted was a very loose fit and would spin freely on the flange, so was replaced with an oem version which once fitted was stuck tight and would not move.

I now fit series metal caps to my 90, tougher and seal well with a silicon bead.

I had a similar problem on the rear axle of my 110. I tried all sorts to seal the hub-caps without success, silicone sealer etc. I eventually sorted it by wrapping a piece of duct tape around the recess in the hub before knocking the caps on. I don't seem to have the same problem on the front.
I don't know why the halfshafts don't have an integral drive flange like the Range Rover Classics and early Discovery, particularly as they have a habit of wearing the splines. It had crossed my mind to weld the flanges onto the halfshafts, but that is probably a bad idea.

With the older type hubs that allowed axle oil to migrate into the hub the drive flanges/shafts did not go dry and wear.

Still need to take it apart and have a look. The brit part caps are **** you can spin them easily and pull them off by hand easily

So the breather was blocked and helpfully the ****ing bolt snapped taking it off. Any ideas on how to get that out. Theres a stub of the old bolt (|the one with a hole down the middle) but not really enough to get some mole grips on. Tried heat and plus gas obviously. May try one of the stud removers with the reverse thread as there's already a hole down the middle.

One of the worst things about stud extractors is it snapping off as you try to turn the stud out making the job even harder.
A better bet is reverse twist drill bits, quite often as you drill into the stud it will come out [ heat generated from drilling helps ] or at least you will have a larger hole to fit a larger less likely to bust extractor.

tottot said:

One of the worst things about stud extractors is it snapping off as you try to turn the stud out making the job even harder.
A better bet is reverse twist drill bits, quite often as you drill into the stud it will come out [ heat generated from drilling helps ] or at least you will have a larger hole to fit a larger less likely to bust extractor.

Click to expand...

Arn't the breather bolts brass from memory? In which case they are very soft and easy to drill. Drill increasingly sized holes until you are at the threads of the axle casing by which point you should be able to either pull out the remaining threads or using a punch fold the remnants in on themselves so it easily unscrews. Then change the diff oil to remove any swarf.

dag019 said:

Arn't the breather bolts brass from memory? In which case they are very soft and easy to drill. Drill increasingly sized holes until you are at the threads of the axle casing by which point you should be able to either pull out the remaining threads or using a punch fold the remnants in on themselves so it easily unscrews. Then change the diff oil to remove any swarf.

Click to expand...

I don't want lots of metal filings going into the axel.... so was going to try and avoid drilling