Gasket sealant?

[RichardJ]

Amateur question here ...
1977 Series 3, 88”.
I removed the drive flange (and axles) off both rear hubs chasing oil leaks on the brake drums and wheels. It seems the leaks are between the drive flange and the hub itself so I plan just to replace those gaskets and not touch the wheel bearing / oil seals (please correct me if that’s an incorrect assumption).
The gaskets are just the paper sort, what gasket sealant, if any, do I need on them?

All the YouTube videos i’ve watched show generous amounts of grease on the bearings so can/should I try to apply additional grease to the outer bearings if I can get some in without removing the hub nuts (don’t really want to redo the end float) or is the diff oil sufficient?
Please be gentle ... :-)
Ta
Richard

[gromit]

The paper gaskets with a smear of grease on them should do the job although a lot of people use silicon RTV which I personally dislike. If I need sealant I use a non hardening Permatex but each to their own.
Some suppliers have the gaskets in a thicker material rather than paper, these seem to work a bit better than the paper ones.
The smear of grease on the gaskets allows them to be removed at a later date (also softens the paper a bit), I've re-used the gaskets a couple of times without issues but this does depend on the state of the sealing surfaces on the hub & drive flange.

Series III wheel bearings were fed with oil from the axle. The grease is usually used when rebuilding to lubricate until the oil finds it's way to the bearings. Some drive flanges had a plug on them so you could assemble and then feed some oil direct to the bearings.
There was a thread on the forum where someone installed the bearings dry and they siezed before any oil transferred through from the axle ! Wasn't a Series III but it's a reminder that some temporary lubrication is needed until the oil arrives.

Best of luck,


Colin

[rick130]

The paper gaskets with a smear of grease on them should do the job


Colin

This is all I used for years on a Defender with oil lubed bearings and never had a leak.
The big positive is they come apart cleanly.
I despise silicone.

Loctite 515 or 518 are good flange sealants that come apart cleanly too.

[RichardJ]

Thanks for the advice Colin and Rick ... I’ll start on it tonight.