leaking axle seal fix?

[Forrest Nearing]

back when I got my 91 D250 a couple months ago, I did the back brakes on it...



the axle seals are thin little metal gaskets... I re-used them...



they seem to be leaking (well, one of them does) a little...



can I just smear some black RTV on either side of the gasket?



thanks,



Forrest

 

[paccool]

Forrest,



I assume you are talking about the metal gasket under the outside axle cap and not the inner seal. I put RTV on the metal seal on mine and it worked fine. When I first did the brake job I replaced them. Had to pull back off for a problem and that was when I reused with RTV.

 

[Forrest Nearing]

it just dawned on me... there are also rubber seals inside the drums (like a rear main seal on a crank shaft)



it could be that seal and not the outer one... looks like I'll have to dig into it!



Forrest

 

[Forrest Nearing]

I figured out what the problem was...



when I had put everything back together, I didn't press the inner seal that sits inside the drum in far enough, and the seal was riding just on the edge of the machined "seat" surface where it starts to get rough, and it had eaten up the seal...



I made sure and tap the seal down into its seat farther this time!



Forrest

 

[Paul Herioux]

Glad you got it fixed Forrest.

Hows the weather down your way? I'm finally having to work at staying warm, lows got down to single digits last week. Still no snow on the ground, keeps going around us.

Take it easy,

Paul

 

[Tim1]

Hey forrest, be sure to really clean the oil residue of the drum,or later on it may reappear and you will think that you have a leak. Tim

 

[paccool]

Forrest, I thought I was the only one that did stuff like that! That was the same reason I had to take it back apart again. Sorry I didn't say anything. It sounded like you were talking the outer seal.

 

[Forrest Nearing]

no worries... I was talking about the outer seal at first, but then when I started tearing into it, I realized what the problem was!



the weather? well, it's gotten down below freezing the past few nights and the past few days have been pretty cold for down here (20's-30's) but it was pretty nice today... hopefully it'll start warming up... I've got TONS of crap to do out back!



(I DID get the truck back together!)



Forrest