no takers to my problem?
OK, I'm leaking gear oil from the passenger side area. Pretty sure it is the seal, but have not removed the flange to verify. I have removed the half shaft and it just looks like CV grease in there. It is getting flung all around there as well as drips when parked. So here are my questions... 1) Brian any leaks from the seals? Did you say you have an extra set, want to sell them? 2) How much were the T. Rutlands seals? 3) Can I just go to a local place with the dimensions and get replacement seals? Any other recommendations on where to get these? Thanks Henry
Being flung all around sure sounds like the diff seals. Is the back of the flage all wet with gear lube? That the CV grease was uncontaminated is different from the flage seal. The CV grease gets oil in it from leakage down the splines past the RTV that should be on them around the washer and into the grease. Yes, my seals have held up just fine. As mentioned elsewhere I even just had a high-speed, high-temperature, high-mileage run. The gearbox does leak, but not from there! The drop gear housing still seeps, $#%^^$. I don't have an extra set of seals. I did buy three in the end because I botched the installation of one. And based on the dimentions my local parts guy says that they are the same dimentions as a 944 front wheel bearing seal. That seal is subjected to axle speeds, what kind of heat would it be putting up with with glowing front discs? Similar to hot gearbox oil and hot headers nearby? Probably worth taking a look at to see if they a superior Viton composition (brown instead of black, generally). Unless they are expensive from the usual Ferrari suppliers I would just go with those. Why not? And yes I just went to a bearing supplier and gave them the dimentions and they had them in stock. (I did this because I wanted to fix the car immediately and didn't plan ahead. And then "immediately" turned into two months.)
+1 on the brown Viton seals. I bought a bunch of those from Rutland. Not cheap, but they work great. I don't remember the price but want to say $40 - 70 each. Image Unavailable, Please Login
OK, mines done. I could not locate any Viton seals that were readily available. I ended up ordering from a place called Rocket Seals in Colorado. I just gave him the dimensions and he had the seal. I ended up getting a couple double lip seals for $7 each. Been on for 2 weeks (50 miles) and no leaks. Henry
The SKF seals have been installed in January this year and no leaks so far. That is after driving 80 miles since January. ;-)
You know these testimonials are just for all the naysayers about parts that don't come the yellow horsey box. SKF is world-renown for making excellent products. No doubt the current rubber SKF seals are superior to the seals that Ferrari put in the car when it rolled out of Maranello. I'm sure that the yellow hosey box seals are perfectly good also, whomever makes them. [sarcasm] As an originality nut, I couldn't put those new-fangled brown seals in my car anyway. [/sarcasm] oh, btw, more than 1k miles on mine.
Brian, the surface of the hub where the seal rides doesn't look good at all. I'd try 400 wet and dry with a suitable lubricant (WD40 works OK) and then move to 600 wet/dry. Perhaps a final with 1000 if you have it. Alternatively, if you have access to a good quality lathe, you could just lightly touch it with a carbide (less than a thou) to refinish the surface followed up with a light polish. A new seal going up against a not-so-hot sealing surface is bound to leak not too far down the road...
Cliff, I'm not sure if that is a before or after picture, but I did clean it up with Scotchbrite and it came out ok - not perfect, but ok. Enough that I was willing to go with it, and I do have a lathe to clean it up with, so it's not like I just didn't want the hassle. I'm usually looking for a reason to stick things in the chuck! It has been a year and 1000 miles. So far, not a hint of any seepage.
Ah, understood. I guess I got my timing mixed up. Good to hear she's been running dry for 1000 miles. Like you, I'm also looking for fun jobs with my lathe and mill!
Hey ! Tried to get to that leaking seal today but couldn't get the flange for the CV joint off. There was some white sealant around the 19 mm bolt and splines. I thought it was just to pull the flange out but it only moved 5 mm out on the splines then hitting a firm stop. Can't see anything that would stop it from sliding out, could it be a buildup of sealant?? Cheers / 328 Image Unavailable, Please Login
Yes, but it can also be a little bit of a burr on the end of the female spline teeth in the Aluminum part. In any case, you'll just have to get physical with it (better to use a puller pressing on the center shaft than just pulling against the bearing).
Get Physical with it great description. Having just done these seals I would assume you need to break the bond of the sealant which I did by using my pry bar. The bigger PITA is cleaning everything so that upon install the sealant wont fail and put you back where you started.
Buy your seals from David Feinberg in Florida. Neat package with new nuts for the driver's side flange and the seals are double lipped (which OEM are not and are why they leak). Follow the in depth procedure Birdman and David worked so hard to develop (on Birdman's site). Don't use every day RTV - it is not gear oil resistant. Permatex makes gear oil resistant RTV and that is what you should use. Also, there is a special anerobic sealant (Curit) which is used on the flange when reinstalling. Did mine once and done. Now its dry and no more leaks. Cost me $75 from David plus the cost of the two sealants. Probably total cost around $150 today. You can try and come up with your own seal but how many times do you want to remove the half shafts if it doesn't work? David and John figured this all out years ago. Learn from their experience.
Hey ! Just sharing some pictures from my progress. The flange came off with a puller. Behind was easy to see the oil leak. Seal was pulled out with a screw But now that I have both half-shafts out, should I send them in for restoration or just put them back on? They seem to be in good condition but have 100,000 km / 60,000 miles. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
If they've never been serviced/relubed/fresh boots, I think it could be done as being a needed normal service item now without regret -- but your comment that they "seem to be in good condition" would make me guess they have been serviced before. Do you have any records? PS Servicing the half-shafts is a level of difficulty below replacing the diff seals -- no need to "send them in for restoration" if they need it PPS Moving the CV joints around to reverse their rotation for forward motion from before is something that is usually done to spread the wear out and give a longer total life.
" good condition " Was probably an overstatement, but I couldn't see anything wrong with them. No service history but looks like original boot and strap? I will give it to a specialist shop nearby. Could do it myself but it's so messy Image Unavailable, Please Login
On my 78 GTS I changed the diff seals a while ago and used Permatex Gear Oil Gasket Maker 8112 to seal the spline. In searching the web this seemed to be the recommended sealer. Its not like RTV in that it has to dry for 24 hours prior to oil touching it (per instructions). I also used this stuff in a very thin coat between the cam covers and the cam seals after new seals leaked a little with no sealer. They no longer leak. The sealer forms a bond that seems to be much stronger than standard RTV. I changed every seal except the shift linkage seal using Superformance seals and have no leaks. As a matter of convenience I don't use sealer on the cam cover gaskets except at the seal / gasket joint and have no leaks even after reusing them a couple of times.
