I'm talking about the front oil seal inside the torque tube. The one behind where the speedometer gear and FRONT collar bearing for the driveshaft is. I'm having a bitch of a time replacing this front oil seal in my shortened '38 ford torque tube. I knocked the old one out from the front towards the rear. It was in there a LOOOONG time. It still had "Ford" logo on it. Regardless, it was hard to get out. I used a socket of the correct size reversed on a long 1/2" drive extension. The old seal is now deformed and in pieces. I have mocked up the replacement seal inside the torque tube and its' outside diameter is definitely too large for the place it needs to set into. It is very hard to see inside the torque tube, but I think that part of the old seal is still inside the tube and never came out, but just came apart very cleanly leaving the outer ring of the seal still seated neatly in its place. Anybody have this problem when trying to change out the old front seal? What have you done to overcome it? BTW, the bearing race for the front driveshaft bearing is in excellent condition.
You need a look at parts book! You knocked out old seal past a ledge that is the endplay stop for all of that stuff, so it had to deform a lot to exit that way. The area it will not fit through is a sleeve the roller bearing rolls against...gettitoutather, then put in seal, sleeve, and rest of the bits including the thrust bearing and speedo. http://www.vanpeltsales.com/FH_web/FH_images/FH_rearend-pics/Flathead_Rear_Axle_Assy_1932to37.jpg is van pelt's site copy of a parts illustration, your seal is marked 4245 and goes against the stop, everything above it then stacks in...4655 is the sleeve that it cannot possibly go through.
Yeah, you goofed. It all has to come out the front. There's a video where a guy (a barner I think) uses a home made tool to pull the bearing sleeve out. You need to do that and get the seal outer part out too. Then the new seal and the bearing sleeve can be put in (from the front). When you get to it, the lip on the seal is supposed to go towards the trans. This is to keep the grease in the uj area. I learned this from very clever people on the barn. Mart.
Well thanks everybody. I had a feeling it went out the wrong way. Damn. I guy I respect a lot who has been working on this old Ford stuff for longer than most of us are alive told me to knock it out the way I did. I asked him several times if that was the right way and he assured me it was. Maybe I misunderstood him. And yes, I did look at the exploded diagram which appears that it all goes in from the front, but I was told otherwise. Thanks again. Hey Mart! You happen to have a link to that video of the guy using that neat homemade tool to remove the bearing sleeve? Thanks again, Andy
Found the video. Looks pretty easy. Let's see how it goes in actuality. Lol. Has to be easier than knocking it out the wrong way.
Only REALLY skilled mechanics can do it all from the back end, like that famous dentist who was previously a proctologist... Somewhere around here I have the Ford tool for jerking that sleeve outtathere...looks like a potato masher with a little peg projecting.
PS...when you get it all apart, check out the ledge where seal lives. It may need a light massage with a slide hammer from front or a really long rod from behind to level it out...that's the thrust stop for all the junk at front of tube. The poor damn ledge may be feeling a bit rough after giving birth through its nose...
Yes Bruce, I will certainly check out the health of the ledge. However, there was no swarf in the pan that the other parts fell into. I'm hoping I lucked out on at least that. BTW, the video shows a neat little homemade tool for yanking out the bearing sleeve. Here's the link to the video:
I did the same thing as you, wow man, I almost just gave up on asking "old timers" as well. I knocked the oil seal from the front to the rear and messed it all up. Now I know what to do. I almost just threw away my shortened torque tube. Big thanks.
Just finished it last night. Made the home made tool for the sleeve removal as per the video and it worked perfectly. Just as I suspected, the outer ring of the original seal that I knocked out the wrong way was still in the torque tube. The seal came apart very cleanly when I knocked it through the stop in the torque tube. I used a very sharp and pointy thin awl to get between the remaining portion of the seal and the torque tube wall and then a very small bladed screwdriver to carefully pry out the outer ring of the old seal. The ledge/stop was in good shape. I devised a nice home made tool for the install of the seal and it all measured up exactly right when done and bearing sleeve snapped right back into place. Thanks everybody for the helpful replies. Andy
Great timing on this thread.....just put mine back together, never checked it! Should probably do that. Luckily the tranny's still out .
^^^Nope. I didn't take any pics of the process while doing it. What do you need help with? I still have the tools I made if you need pics of those. Andy
Actually i just got it out last night and made my own tool as well. I was going to scrap the torque tube until i saw your post. Thanks man
^^^Yup, that's exactly what the remains of my seal looked like when I got it out. Here's another tip for you. I went to the local plumbing supply house and picked up a long handled gas furnace venturi brush. Looks like a big bottle brush for baby bottles. A nice fat one. I used it with some brakleen to clean out the inside of the torque tube of all the ancient gear oil, grease and crap before putting it all back together. It worked really good and the inside of the torque tube was hospital clean in no time. I used a much smaller and thinner version of the gas venturi brush to clean out the water passages of the flathead once I got the heads off and found evidence that mice had been inside the engine before I acquired it. That took me four hours to get all of the nesting material out of the engine. Lots of compressed air and a neat homemade thin hose attachment to my shop-vac run into the water passage from the front with the water pumps off. Seemed to work well. The flathead runs nice and cool with no hot spots anywhere. Used an infrared thermometer ($39.00 at Home Depot) to check that after watching some guys checking engines in the pits at the dragstrip. Andy
I had been trying to knock mine out from the front too. I'm happy now that I've done some research as it really did not want to exit the rear of the tube.
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