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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Leaking rear wheel bearing.

My frog has a slight oil leak from off side rear wheel. It is coming from the back of the hub. It's definately not the half shaft flange- hub seal though that would be my first thought. And the diff breather is clear.

The leak is slight so for now whilst I think about this its back together again. When I put this together 2500 miles ago, I fitted new bearings and a new oil seal. I used a sealed type bearing, removing the seal from the inner (hub) side. The other side seal remained and was supposed to be an extra barrier against oil seepage out of the now oiled bearing.

The oil seal I fitted was a modern lip type seal. Originally this would have been an oil soaked felt seal. The advantage of these is they don't wear grooves in the surface of the axle casing where the lip seals run. Perhaps I should have just stuck with that one.

so wear groves or damage to the surface of the axle casing may be the problem. I believe the solution might be a Speedisleeve. Does anyone have experience of this application?
GuyW

I have fitted quite a few Speedi Sleeves. I'm pretty sure the problem you have is wear on the axle casing, as you suspect. I'm not sure however that the old style felt seal is better. It is more likely to trap grit and still wear the surface. If you fit a sleeve and a new rubber seal you will not have problems with this for the foreseeable future.

However fitting a sleeve to the axle is not straightforward, because the threaded end of the axle is too long and you can't use the installation tool that comes with the sleeve. The only way I could do it was to cut out the middle of the tool so that it slips over the threaded bit of the axle, and cobble up a longer bit of tube that I can use over the modified tool so that I can knock the Speedi sleeve on. You then have to remove the flange from the fitted sleeve, which is tricky as there is very little room. I had to use a cutting disc in the Dremel to get it started.
Les Rose

Thanks Les. Ive never actually seen a speedisleeve so some research is needed! I feel a YouTube evening coming up ahead of me!
GuyW

Completely uninformed suggestion here - is there a modern sealant which is able to withstand the conditions of the bearing seal environment - probably as a supplement to the seal?
Jeremy MkIII

Or Page 108




Daniel

Guy - Just a thought. Might you be better with both the seals removed from the bearing if you're using a modern type lip seal. My thinking is that 'maybe' the main seal ran dry initially and when oil seeped through the dust seal of the bearing the main seal might be worn from running dry initially and the oil is getting trapped between the seal in the bearing and the now damaged seal--? and dribbling out.
The seals on the bearings aren't real oil seals, they're only seals to stop grot getting into the prelubed bearing--oil will work it's way through them eventually unless they're a proper sealed bearing like Ford Escort Atlas diffs have. I think if you're running a separate seal you're better off removing the bearing seals so that the oil can drain back through the bearing away from the seal.---just a thought-
willy
William Revit

This thread was discussed between 20/06/2024 and 21/06/2024

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