Seal replacement

[pinzinator]

My Haflinger sprung a transmission oil leak after installing the engine, a close examination revealed the leak source as being a rubber seal at the pivot point of the axle housing (left rear). Apparently the up and down movement of the suspension ripped it.
Has anyone ever replace these seals? Does the entire axle housing have to come out? The procedure looks straightforward, just loosen the pinch bolts and remove the pin. In reality it is probably more complicated. Part #50113217. I will change the boot, too.

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[Profpinz]

You have to pull the wishbone and sideplate as an assembly, remove the locking bolts, then unscrew the pivot pins.
Assembly is a pain as you have to locate the square drive blocks that are on the end of the axles, back in the differential, so I generally find it easier to remove the axle (means stripping the portal hubs).
I've also found that installing the seals themselves is a pain, but if you hold them in place with grease, and "skew" them so that they "roll" into the correct location as the wishbone moves into position, it makes assembly a lot easier.

[pinzinator]

Thanks for the tip, Professor, I figured what you described would be the case. At least I'm at a point where I can still jack the body up to get clearance to work on this, as vehicle re-assembly is not complete. I might as well order twice the number of gaskets I need and do the other side as well...double the fun!

I do have a service manual, but it did not give a clear description on how to do the seal replacement.

[pinzinator]

Professor, I got the axle assembly out and have it on my work bench-



It appears that the o-ring at the end of the pin is more critical than the rubber seals that are visible, as it seals directly against transmission oil (the pins are to the left of the WD-40). The rubber seals are no longer available, the parts dealer recommended using a similar sized o-ring.
I have the transmission housing exposed, now I see what you mean by the 'blocks'. Those will be a pain to line up, along with the locker mechanism. Hopefully luck will be on my side that day!

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[relbhcb]

By coincidence I replaced the front axle seals only last week. Interested to read about the importance of the inner seals (the o-rings on the pins), as on my early (1962) Haf the pins do not have any seals (nor grooves to seat them).

BTW, Haflinger Technik in Scotland have the small o-rings in stock now, but I had to get the larger seals from http://www.puch500.at/ in Austria

I found the best way to get the outer seals back in was to wrap them in cling film (?gladwrap?), and then pick out the plastic when the seals are seated. On the front axles it wasn't necessary to remove the diff side plates.

One word of caution though; having put everything back together I am getting some nasty noises if I rotate both front wheels at the same time; I _think_ I may have got the 4 square blocks on the inner end of the driveshafts misaligned, so will have to strip it all down again ;-(( There is a short video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmOmgdJ_Ca8 and if anyone has any suggestions as to what might be the cause of the noise, please do let me know!

Regards,

Julian B
W Sussex, UK
'62 Pre Series SWB
'72 Series II LWB

[pinzinator]

I watched the video, and to me it sounds like the differential lock is trying to engage. Or disengage. I don't see how getting the blocks mis-aligned could made such a noise. If they are mis-aligned you would not have been able to install the axle and housing at all. But I could be wrong, this is a first time for me.

I need the outside seals that the pins go through. I cannot read German, so I sent an email to puch500 asking them to send a PayPal invoice for 4 of them using the part number as a reference, maybe I'll get lucky!

[relbhcb]

Thanks for the comments re: front diff lock slipping; I will let you know how I get on.

The seals (501 132 17) cost me EUR 2.00 each from Puch500 two weeks ago, plus a reasonable amount for postage to the UK. They were happy to take PayPal. Not cheap, but at least they were available!. This is how they described them in German "gep08 Dichtring zum Halbachsrohr - nur Puchgetriebe 501.1.3217 EUR 2,00". You can see them (look for gep08) on http://www.puch500.at/?action=getriebe . Their English is not wonderful, but if you write to them in English they seem to be able to cope just fine

Hope that helps

Julian B
W Sussex, UK
'62 Pre Series SWB
'72 Series II LWB