Continuing G rear axle seal saga

leon

Well-known Member
So, after having installed new seals, I still have leaky rear axle seals. I pulled the right one and found the new NAPA/SKF 11800 seal totally destroyed! Only thing I can surmise is that in spite of the long studs for guides, I must have destroyed it upon installation. Any suggestions as to how not to have a repeat performance?
 
Did you look at the sealing area good. Apparently there is a problem with breaking axles in them. There are several Gs in my area and about everybody has found at least one that was broke. The last one I restored had both been broken. It was at the sealing area. They had to much run out, and was way to rough to seal. We ended up building them up and turning them back down to spec to get them true. Lee
 
I just discovered I've been trying to use the wrong seal, 11800 and it's for a 1.188 shaft. The shaft is actually 1.25 so it needs the 12456 seal. I just took a poster's word for the correct number. I guess he was having a bad memory day. I should have checked it out. Shame on me!
 
Ted, Well, I'm sure enough that I have 4 of them on order. I can pick them up at NAPA at 2:00 pm tomorrow. I plan to use the idea of 2 seals per axle. I see no sign of repair/re-weld on the axle I now have out. I even wondered if the earlier tractors might have had 1 1/8" axles, then they made a running change to 1 1/4". My tractor is a '49. By measuring, it has 1 1/4" axles.
 
It's according to this site that I conclude that the 12456 seal is correct for the 1 1/4" shaft, 2" OD and 1/4" width.
http://www.rocketseals.com/catalog/o-rings-and-seals-for-u-s-measurements/oil-seals-cr-skf-speedi-sleeves/oil-seals-cr-skf/rotary-shaft-oil-seals-cr-skf?page=all
 
Ted, I picked p the 12456 seals yesterday at NAPA. I won't have an opportunity to install them for several days, but they sure for the world look like the correct seal. NAPA was good enough to give me full credit for the wrong, 11800, seals I had then order. Because of the seal ring worn into the shaft, as mentioned earlier, I'm going to install two per axle so for sure one of them won't happen to hit that worn location. I also have four 12" long 5/8"guide rods made up to replace the axle housing studs during the shaft installation process. When the axle is in place, I'll remove the guide rods and replace the original studs. Twice is enough to do this job!
 
Fill the void between the seals with oil. The second seal will be running dry with no oil to lubricate it and wear out quickly.
 
Good idea. I'll plan to do just that, but why would this be any different that a double lip seal?
 
Turns out that upon careful inspection, I see that that the right real axle had indeed been broken right at the location of the seal. There were two tell-tale signs of the break. 1) Bluing from heat generated in the weld repair of the axle and 2) the weld had been ground down to be smoother than the original machining marks and likely just as true as the original axle. Nice repair job! As they were prone to breaking, it's a wonder that they survived with a weld job. Maybe users quit doing whatever it was that was breaking axles, like probably using wide tread settings.
 
Have you got it back together yet? Just wondering if it is going to seal this time with the new seals or if you will have to true it up to get rid of any run out. On the one I did it will still drip occasionally at a certain spot when it sets for a long period of time. It is not enough that I am going to take it back apart to try to fix. Lee
 

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