Front Half Shaft Oil-Seal Failure (Post #493) 5/1/2014

How many of you remember this commercial?

So the problem I’m having is exactly like that commercial, except that it’s not delicious, I haven’t bumped into a cute girl, and there’s no creepy old man helping solve the problem, there isn’t a happy ending, and it’s 2014 not 1982.

You got swivel housing grease in my differential oil!

No you got differential oil in my swivel housing grease!

Study the following graphic. It comes from the Range Rover Workshop Manual. There will be Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups a quiz later…

axle

Isn’t that a great graphic? Unfortunately it represents the problem I’m having. Since we had the road side repair of the CV Joint noise coming home from S.C.A.R.R. 2014 I’ve been trying to figure out the easiest way to fix the problem.

I don’t believe the CV Joint is failed. It basically ran dry of lubricant. There is a note in the front of the section of the Repair Manual that describes the condition.

From the manual…

How its supposed to work.
How its supposed to work.

The description of what has happened, again from the manual…

fault

That pretty much lays it out very clearly. It’s a wonder that we ever have to go to the message boards, am I right? Well that’s just what I did. I asked if I had to tear the entire hub assembly down or if I could just start where the hub assembly meets the axle housing. I’ve got to do this job once on each side so I’m hip to saving some steps/time if its possible.

I know I should check the grease in the bearing and replace the seal. Its probably on a tick sheet somewhere and I’m guessing it’s probably time considering the last time I worked on that part of the Range Rover was when we were living in the War Bird house and that was 10 years ago. I have replaced the brake rotors in the last few years so the grease in the hub has been replaced but I didn’t replace the seal.

So that’s where I am with the problem. I’m waiting for my message board post to get some answers and feedback. I also have to order the parts from one of the vendors. I’m going with Rovers North this time just because of my awesome meeting with Jeff Aronson at SCARR 2014. Ground shipping from them is terrible slow due to their location in Vermont and mine in God’s Country Oklahoma but that’s okay. I’m used to it by now and I don’t have an open weekend to work on it until after this week any way.

I’m sure this is how we all envisioned 2014 way back in 1980. All I wanted was a fully functioning light-saber.

We are not far off, except for the fashion, sentient robots with taste buds, space stations, desert planets, and flying candy.

More when I get closer and if you are lucky I’ll post a how-to video.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

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