Live axle oil leak

[mattobrien]

Posting on behalf of a new owner and soon to be club member.

 

The car is a ex racer (possibly academy or whatever predates it) a 1.6 8v vauxhall live axle.

 

During the last track day I went on said car came along and there was a small oil leak in the inside of the offside rear wheel. It was suspected to be coming from the axle.

 

The owner has taken it to the garage (I don't know which one) and has emailed me the following;

 

verdict from garage

 

someone has spot welded the end of the half-shafts so they think i need a new pair of half-shafts as the existing ones will continue to wear the seals as the spot welds

have damaged the shaft (difficult to explain on email!)

 

They think I need a pair of half-shafts

 

Morris marina / Ital rear axles

 

Any idea where you think I can get a pair ?

 

I wanted to ask one of the more learned members to sense check this and to also ask if any light can be shone on the solution / where to source necessary parts?

 

All info, advice and help very gratefully received.

 

Thanks

 

Matt

[James_Russell]

Finding that the bearings have been tack welded onto the shafts is not a new issue! caterham themselves used to put little tacks on the bearing/shaft on the inbound side, to try to prevent the bearing moving on it's taper. I have never known these welds to interfere with the seal before though.

New shafts seems an expensive solution but I suppose anything else is a bit of a bodge (grinding the welds off?).

Try McMillan Motorsport in Hinkley for your shafts. They'll probably have some used ones as all of us Grads racers (with the 1.6 8v vauxhall motor/live axle) have upgraded our half shafts.

Alternatively I once bought a complete Ital axle for £50 off eBay... the diff will probably be the wrong ratio but everything else is a straight swap.

[Paul Richards]

Matt

Not very familiar with the Ital axle, but it's quite common to spot weld the retainer on a Ford axle and it wouldn't interfere with the oil seal.

If the spot weld is a problem, then I would imagine it can be ground/filed off leaving you with a good as new half shaft.

In my experience (Ford live axles) oil leaks are normally via the bearing, either the oil seal or oil passing between the bearing and the casing. The latter is cured by use of silicon upon assembly and the former by new bearing.

[elie boone]

With the bearing in the correct position the tack must be huge, because a shimmed axle has a 5mm shin between the bearing and the seal. BTW the seal runs on the hub not the axle shaft, but the hub can be worn by the seal. So worst case u need another/new hub.

[James_Russell]

Elie- there is another seal inside the axle tube behind the bearing isn't there? The seal which runs on the neck of the hub is the keeper plate seal I think.

[Tezza7]

I had a similar problem with my Ital axle Vx 1600. The problem is more than likely to be the inner oil seal which Chris at the 7 workshop replaced for me when I had the whole rear axle overhauled. He also shimmed the half shafts. Brilliant job big recommendation.

 

The pinion shaft oil seal was replaced but has started leaking again, maybe a job for the winter.

[elie boone]

Oeps forgot about the inner seal

[Eugene]

The bottom line is there is very little chance the spot weld is the cause - I'd worry about competence of your garage...

 

I have an Ital axle with a 210BHP Zetec - no problem.