Thread: Ashcroft HD CV shafts and front diff seals - leaking?

after i was made idiot on the other thread i spoke again with my "lathe man" and he admitted that it seemed to him too that 1mm might be too much(and as he knows too that i'm an idiot) in reality he rectified the shaft to 34.3 as he thought that 0,05mm will be enough just missed to mention that to me

my wife made around 75km today with the car and it's still dry as a bone at the left shaft, which might not mean much(the right one with 34.98 OD and the 35 ID seal is still leaking... and i say again all the seals i removed in the last year(around a dozen) looked like chewed by a crocodile)

WARNING: DONT DO THAT ON YOUR OWN CAR COS IT'S BASED ONLY ON MY OWN EXPERIENCE.

I think I will rather try the seals from Ritters before having the expensive parts physically modified to compensate. Considering your efforts, I'm suprised you didn't too before embarking on this more radical step...

The biggest issue I can see with lathering the OD of the shafts down is that the lip of the seal, the actual bit that is meant to seal, may not reach down that extra and therefore you could just be introducing another leak reason. No evidence has come about yet that the actual seal lip ID has been reduced (it may have but ewe don't know), only the ID of the body of the seal.

Well Ritters were useless. Spoke to them yesterday about the seals, I specifically asked for the NAK ones. The guy went and got them and stated on the phone that they were not marked with a brand and were just a generic one that they have tried and tested and found do not leak like the genuine ones.

Based on this statement and EvilGTV's experience I decided to take a chance. They arrived today (quick freight a credit to Ritter on that at least), this is what I found:



I am not sure how he could not tell what brand they are. It's written in big bold text as the first line - "ALLMAKES4X4".

What's also annoying is they charge $25.00 per seal which usually I buy in the UK (exact same brand) for $3.59 each.

In the picture above the left package is the one received and the right is the one that I already had on a shelf here. The new ones are more recent manufacture, the packaging is larger and the seal is all oiley inside.

I also notice that Britcar no longer stock any of them - http://www.brit-car.co.uk/search.php...o=0&currency=7

Allmakes is not necessarily the brand, just the distributor. Mine weren't in the same bag as that, mine were in a translucent blue bag that obviously had a number of seals in it originally, and has an indecipherable website written on it (I can only make out .com). The NAK brand is on the seal itself. What are the internal dimensions of those Allmakes ones?

With regards to the seal lip itself being reduced in diameter, the new made in India genuine seals I had were 1mm smaller in every internal dimension than the original (probably factory) ones that came out of the car. The lip itself was actually a bit more than 1mm difference, as you would expect due to wear. From memory they even still had the same 'nominal' dimensions stamped on them as the originals, but measured up smaller. Don't think they had the Land Rover part number on the seal itself either, unlike the original ones.

Originally Posted by EvilGTV

Allmakes is not necessarily the brand, just the distributor.

I realise that, but it's likely that AllMakes4X4 uses a single manufacturer for this part. So the AllMakes4X4 ones that I have already likely were made in the exact same place. Either way they are not NAK brand and have no brand identification markings on them.

Originally Posted by EvilGTV

What are the internal dimensions of those Allmakes ones?

35mm.

Originally Posted by EvilGTV

With regards to the seal lip itself being reduced in diameter, the new made in India genuine seals I had were 1mm smaller in every internal dimension than the original (probably factory) ones that came out of the car. The lip itself was actually a bit more than 1mm difference, as you would expect due to wear. From memory they even still had the same 'nominal' dimensions stamped on them as the originals, but measured up smaller. Don't think they had the Land Rover part number on the seal itself either, unlike the original ones.

In this case sierrafery's idea of machining the dust shield collars is looking more and more attractive...

today i drove only 26km and still dry like a bone(the rectified side only) , IMO a deffinite answer would be only after 3000km which was the more the last ones lasted(which were bearmach)...my lathe man said he'll "fabricate" any dimension mudshiled for me from special steel which is suitable for this kind of applications for the equivalent of around 15USD...but if this one will leak without finding the seal destoyed i'll take out the other one and rectify it to 35.5 first, those shafts were removed at least once a month in the last year anyway.

I wish I could find a cheap machinist...