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differential pinion oil seal rebuild

Started by westaus29, May 19, 2013, 09:58:17 AM

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westaus29

Seeing as I have the 29 Plymouth in pieces with engine half rebuilt, I decided to do a couple of jobs that have been on the to do list, namely the gearbox rear seal and the diff pinion seal. I originally replaced them in 1979 and they sat for over ten years before hitting the road, so I guess they have given good service.

NOTE I HAVE EDITED THIS PARAGRAPH!! The gearbox seal was simple .. off the shelf neoprene seal, but not so simple as I first thought! Its a metric size 38*62*7 mm, not imperial. I should have realised, as I do remember that the gearbox bearings were hard to find in 1979 until I realised they are metric. Seems strange for a car made in USA but my bearing man tells me it is quite common??

The diff seal is a large composite riveted unit which is still available at a price, but it is much cheaper to rebuild it. First drill out the six rivets with a 5/32 inch drill. Disassemble and clean, keeping only the outer housing and the seal retaining plate. Purchase a neoprene seal ID 1-9/16 inch, OD 2-1/4 inch,  thickness 3/8 inch. Cut a 1/8 inch thick neoprene cork gasket spacer to hold the seal central in the housing. Put a thin layer of silicone sealant on the inside face of the housing, then place the cork seal in the housing with the neoprene seal located centrally inside it, put another layer of silicone on the cork, then place the retaining plate over the neoprene seal. Pop-rivet the assembly using 5/32 inch rivets, and wipe off excess silicone, then leave 24 hr to cure. Give it a coat of gloss black and it will look like a bought one.

The four pics below show firstly the four pieces to be assembled, then cork inserted, then seal inserted, and finally retainer put in place.

Happy motoring!

Jim



frankp

Jim, very handy tip and great explanation with pictures!  Thanks,  frank
frank p

kimmc

Jim:  I need to do both of these jobs.  Thank you for posting this "how to...".   Kim

imoore

I have done the same sort of thing. Except my seal isn't rivited together. It must be an aftermarket seal. I also built up my pinion flange with JB weld. Then slid a speedy sleeve over it. This brings the seal surface back to new. 
1928 Q tourer (Holden bodied)
Several vintage stationary engine

Old Man

I highly reccomend this be done to all the seals in your Plymouth as the original Chicago Rawhide were never good from new. Unless you want to do this to an original CR seal and put it on the shelf for a spare, I don't reccomend you buy any old ones at a fleamarket. You're just wasting your money. The leather died years ago. And yes all Chrysler products had metric seals and bearings in them. All the bearings as far as I know came from SKF in Sweden. All the original manuals I've seen have the metric equivalent beside the inch. Strange that we talk about the metrification of our modern iron when Chrysler vehicles were metric from the start.  ;D

imoore

did they use metric on everything or did they use imperial and metric?
1928 Q tourer (Holden bodied)
Several vintage stationary engine

Old Man

It was split. The internals like bearings and seals were metric but bolts and nuts were inch. Unless I'm being fooled. I've always though that those strange sizes like 13/16" and 11/32" etc. were an aberration of the ,as yet then, unsettled convention on bolt and nut sizes. Ive collected all those strange wrenches and sockets from before WWII to work on my old iron. Because of the need to standardize, WWII brought us the set of inch sizes we have today,1/4",7/16",3/8",1/2",9/16",5/8" etc. I wonder if some of those odd sizes from before the war were metric? But I've never found an old wrench or socket with a metric size on it. I do know that the British had their own sizing for many years and my old Hillmans and Morris were sized with it. It was called 'BS' for British Standard. Of course we learned to call it something else that started with bs.     

SteveG

Just FYI: I used to ride British motorcycles and the nuts, bolts and studs used a system called Whitworth.
Maybe the same as British Standard.
SteveG

Old Man

I have a wrench or two still around from those days somewhere. I'm pretty sure they have "BS" stamped on them. But I think I have heard of Whitworth before also. I seem to remember that the Brits measured a nut across the corners and we measured it across the flats or something like that. Or they actually measured the bolt across the threads. Whatever they did we did the opposite. They always have seemed to be obtuse when naming things or using items already perfected in other countries.
One of the best stories I ever heard was the development of the Rolls Royce MERLIN engine used almost exclusively in Allied aircraft during WWII. The engine was only good for about 20 hours before it needed a major overhaul. But Packard Motors of Detroit was asked to build the engine on this side of the pond for use in North American designed aircraft. So off they went to England to look at the engine and it's testing. R/R engineers were doing their normal touchy feely thing with the engine and not looking to really TEST it as the Americans would. (Little did they know.) So the Packard engineers put the throttle wide open and asked where the nearest watering hole was. The R/R engineers nearly fainted. "It will blow up if you leave it like that!" "Yes" said the Packard guys," and then we'll find out why it broke and put in a better part for that one and start again until we can't break the damn thing." So that was how a good British motor became an unbreakable Packard motor and was used in the U.S. built Mustang,Canadian built Lancaster and Canadian built Mosquito and by the end of the war it was reffered to as the "Packard Merlin". If left on their own the R/R engineers would never have "got it". And then of course there's Lucas electrics. But don't get me started on that!

chetbrz

Quote from: Old Man on September 11, 2013, 09:36:10 AM
One of the best stories I ever heard was the development of the Rolls Royce MERLIN engine used almost exclusively in Allied aircraft during WWII. The engine was only good for about 20 hours before it needed a major overhaul. But Packard Motors of Detroit was asked to build the engine on this side of the pond for use in North American designed aircraft. So off they went to England to look at the engine and it's testing. R/R engineers were doing their normal touchy feely thing with the engine and not looking to really TEST it as the Americans would. (Little did they know.) So the Packard engineers put the throttle wide open and asked where the nearest watering hole was. The R/R engineers nearly fainted. "It will blow up if you leave it like that!" "Yes" said the Packard guys," and then we'll find out why it broke and put in a better part for that one and start again until we can't break the damn thing." So that was how a good British motor became an unbreakable Packard motor and was used in the U.S. built Mustang,Canadian built Lancaster and Canadian built Mosquito and by the end of the war it was reffered to as the "Packard Merlin". If left on their own the R/R engineers would never have "got it". And then of course there's Lucas electrics. But don't get me started on that!

Great Story !!!!  Thanks
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