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MG MGA - 1500 rear wheel hub, use gasket sealant?

1958 1500 MGA, stock, except for 1600 wheel hubs with the o-ring.

I have one rear wheel hub which habitually leaks fluid from the differential. I've tried various sealants and gaskets and none have lasted a driving season before leaking again. Neither mating surface appears overly scratched.

This time in taking the gasket off it occurred to me that it was soaked with fluid all the way around and both in-board and out-board. I'm not a physics major but I suspect centrifugal force is at play. Little of the sealant remained.

My plan for this go around is to make a thicker gasket (1/16" cork) and go w/o sealant. My next option would be the same gasket material using Permatex Ultra Black.

I'm looking for opinions and/or alternative suggestions. Thanks for taking the time to assist.

Brian Denis

It is probably leaking from the lip seal at the back of the hub. the cause is wear on the sealing surface of the axle. the cure is installation of a speedisleeve - check the guru for details and part numbers
Dominic Clancy

Make sure you have the oil seal installed the right way. Don't ask how I know!

Jim
JL Cheatham

Dominic and Jim, thanks for taking the time to give me your input.

Dominic, I've been down the road on a leaking lip seal with this wheel and have installed a speedisleeve, which took care of that problem.

Jim, I haven't made that mistake but my list is long and ugly!

The leaking is definitely between the wheel hub and extension. The gasket was soaked with oil but the back plate was dry in-board and out-board. So I'm sure I'm dealing with seepage between these two surfaces.

So I cleaned the surfaces up, installed a new o-ring and used the 1/16" cork gasket, no sealant. I also made sure the four wheel nuts were torqued appropriately.

As an aside, I'm surprised that the primary pressure on this seal is applied by bolts and nuts that go through the drum, the adapter (wire wheels) and then to the hub. This means any time you remove the drum you risk breaking the seal between the hub and adapter. I hadn't thought this through before and will be more aware in the future.

If my efforts don't solve the issue I'll be back for additional suggestions. In the mean time thanks again for taking the time to consider my problem.

Brian Denis

https://mgaguru.com/mgtech/rearaxle/ra103a.htm
William Revit

I had this problem and took a different approach to the paper gasket. With the gasket surface accessible, I coated THE GASKET with a very thin coating of regular gasket cement and left it to dry overnight.

The axle plate has three holes that are used for nothing. I tried a 10/3 bolt in these holes and .it fit.
Put the gasket in place, then the axle and bolt it together let it sit over night. The small bolts seem to apply and equal pressure on the axle/plate , making the gasket seal. Mount the brake drum and test it out.
Gordon Harrison

I have started seeing, again, radial seepage of rear axle oil on one wheel despite a recent SpeediSleeve and oil seal replacement. So, I’m assuming it’s the gasket paper thickness is the problem and intend bolting it up after cleaning up the surfaces and measuring the gap with feeler gauge then appropriate thickness gasket paper plus a thin coating of sealant.
Would appreciate comment on that, plus, anyone’s confirmation or rejection of this thought - can I be reassured that that the oil seal, even if perfect and doing its job, will always let a small quantity of axle oil past itself? Latter question because on removal of the hub with halfshaft a tiny puddle dropped out into a drip tray. Really quite a minor amount and no more now.
Grateful for any wisdom from this forum.
Thanks
Bruce.
Bruce Mayo

Dominic, is your Swiss email address still active? Or do you now have a Thailand email?

Cheers
Colyn
Colyn Firth

Well I'm back because, yes... the hub continues to leak. I did the procedure mentioned on 4/30/23 before I read William's referral to Barney's site on this problem.

So my plan now is to follow Barney's advice and make a gasket 0.01" thick that does not overlap the o-ring. So, let the o-ring contain the differential oil rather than the gasket. I'm sure in my current set-up that the gasket does overlap the o-ring.

I'll be back to report results... fifth times the charm!
Brian Denis

I had a leak such as yours. Pressing a speedi-sleeve over the hub solved the problem.
Arthur DiLello

This thread was discussed between 27/04/2023 and 03/06/2023

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