Front drive shaft oil leak

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Heinkeljb
Great Britain
Posts: 391
Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2013 1:09 pm
Location: Lewes,Southern England

Front drive shaft oil leak

Post by Heinkeljb »

As there are possibly people on here who do not frequent any of the other forums the cater for the Haflinger, I thought I would post a little something regarding the issue of Lurch (my Haflinger 703) being incontinent!

Today was a nice bright sunny day (wind was a little cold). Out with the tools:-

Jacked up front end and removed passenger side front wheel.
Cleaned hub and drive shaft as well as possible without making the whole area underneath wet and mucky - I am planning on working here!
Removed spring (used spring compressors as I didn't want the drive shaft falling down any more - hopefully the oil has gone back towards the diff)
Split the brake line at the flexible hose to hub joint. (Piece of plastic sheet under the brake reservoir lid - very little leakage of brake fluid)
Removed the steering arm ball joint (Ball joint splitter)
Removed the bottom swivel pin cap (2 x 13mm bolts)
Removed the nut from the bottom swivel pin and pushed it down part way (24mm Ring spanner)
Removed the top swivel pin cotter pin bolt (13mm ring spanner)
Used a spark plug socket and 8mm long threaded bolt with a 13mm nut run up it as a puller to remove the top swivel pin.
Pulled the complete hub from the drive shaft.
Cleaned all the bits I couldn't clean before and which would be going back together again soon....

The mud deflector collar showed signs of the oil seal running / polishing it, but no signs of damage.
The oil seal in the drive shaft showed no signs damage, so don't know why it was leaking :x
Removed the oil seal - I have (had) a replacement. Cleaned mounting area until no more oil was dripping into the seal mounting area.
Installed new oil seal but haven't tapped it all the way home - should mean it is running on a different part of the mud deflector collar.
Grease on the splines, little bit on the oil seal lips
Grease on the swivel pin surfaces.
Slide hub back in to place and tap top swivel pin down far enough to locate in bronze bush, realise that you need to put the bottom rubber seal and metal cover in place for the bottom swivel pin BEFORE you push the hub home! :oops:
Remove top swivel pin (Again)
Put rubber seal and metal cover in place on bottom swivel bronze bush.
Push hub home, tap top swivel pin down to locate in bronze bush
Insert bottom swivel pin and wiggle hub until it fits correctly. Put nut on and do up finger tight.
Tap top swivel pin home making sure the cut out is aligned for the cotter pin bolt.

Then put all the other bits back in place and do things up.
Bleed the brakes using an "pressurised" one man brake bleeding kit that use your spare tyre air pressure to force brake fluid in to the system so you can just go round undoing the bleed nipples one after the other.

Tomorrow I will change the front diff oil. (It's supposed to be a nice day as well)!

Then we will see if I have cure the leak!

Oh yes, my new limit straps as made in South Africa and sold on Ebay Uk have arrived so I will replace the drivers side rear which is frayed and only two wires still holding it together. That will be fun!

Have to remove the rear spring and then work in the black hole of Calcutta! Heat exchanger reduces access to top bolt

John
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TechMOGogy
Canada
Posts: 2831
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2012 11:39 am
Location: Ontario, Canada

Re: Front drive shaft oil leak

Post by TechMOGogy »

Good step x step!
Not sure you have to remove the rear spring to replace the limit strap unless you need to do it for access?
I was able to just jack up the side I was working on and remove the strap (again, I don't have the heat exchanger)
Cheers and thanks for posting!
Dan
72 Pathfinder | 75 710M 2.7i | 96 350GDT Worker
Heinkeljb
Great Britain
Posts: 391
Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2013 1:09 pm
Location: Lewes,Southern England

Re: Front drive shaft oil leak

Post by Heinkeljb »

Replacing one of my rear suspension limit straps requires the removal of the spring if you have a 703 with heat exchangers, photo show the lack of access.
Why you need to remove the spring..jpg
Why you need to remove the spring..jpg (312.38 KiB) Viewed 3139 times
The top mounting even with the spring removed has limited access. The rubber bung in the engine bay allows you to remove the split pin and castle nut, but then you only just have room after pushing the stud away from the firewall as it fouls the heat exchanger!
New strap fitted in the black hole of Calcutta.jpg
New strap fitted in the black hole of Calcutta.jpg (359.64 KiB) Viewed 3139 times
I also had to remove my exhaust silencer as the bottom bolt is longer than the gap. mine is not an original silencer, but having seen the original. I still think you would have to remove it, in order to extract the bottom bolt.
The work area part way through the job.jpg
The work area part way through the job.jpg (217.05 KiB) Viewed 3139 times
Then it was put the new strap in place, replace all the bits I had taken off. After that it was change the front Diff oil and visit all 11 grease points round the Haflinger.

So what's next? A service for the engine and change the oil in the rear Diff. Change the oil in the four hubs - all will have to happen on another weekend.

My neighbours must think I am mad! Either under the Haflinger or inside one end or the other doing something!

John
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