Thread: Oil leaking into handbrake drum - can't seem to cure it!

Hi All,

Today I pulled it all apart, checked everything twice, cleaned everything to within an inch of its life and started putting it all together.

I'm up to the part where you put the felt seal, washer and big nut on. I carefully pushed the felt seal (it has tabs to match the splines inside the flange) into the splines, applied sealant as suggested and put the washer over the top. I then put the nut on and torqued it up to just under 180nm. Sadly, the felt seal seems to have tried to escape and has been well and truly squashed under the washer. It is poking out all the way around.

I had assumed it would stay wholly trapped under the washer. I've decided to down tools and see what you guys think. I really don't want to do it all again, so if this is not normal let me know and I'll get another felt seal and try again. If it is normal, I'll keep going and put it together.

Cheers, Dave.

That's normal Dave, there should be enough of the felt washer still under there along with sealant to do the job.

G'Day Dave,
I'm a series man however, we have the same problem of felt seal squeeze out.
Our axle seals have a rubber section bonded to the felt seal and tears off when you tighten them up.
What I do is pre-compress the seal in a vice with smooth jaws so they are about half the normal thickness.
Then they slide in nicely and don't squeeze out when you torque the nut up. They don't leak with this method and don't have to use sealant.
Chris

Well today I took a day's holiday leave from work to try to get this back together. I even started yesterday to get a head start. As usual, after a full day's work I'm covered in filth and not much closer to getting the job done. I also now have a broken toe

One problem I'm having is that the plungers which activate the brake shoes, or the linkage itself, seem to have been altered somehow. I drew pictures of the positions of the rollers and plungers when I had it apart and put it back together very carefully. I did the same with the adjuster mechanism and didn't change its position.

When I pulled it apart, I had just installed a new cable and could just get 3 clicks on the handbrake lever. Now the linkage is slack, even with all of the adjustment in the handbrake cable taken up. The plungers do move, but only just. I'll pull the whole thing apart again tomorrow, but if anyone has any advice I'd love to hear it.

Seriously, five solid days work to fix a handbrake must be some sort of record.

Dave, I can feel the pain just imagining every time you push the clutch in , unless you broke your toe on the left foot..
Cheers Mario

OK, pulled it all apart, couldn't figure out what the problem was, put it all back together and it seems to work just fine. I would guess that something moved during assembly last time, but I couldn't see what it was.

Now to see if the oil stays in - I actually put the oil drum behind the car to make sure I didn't forget to refill the transfer box.

Thanks again for all the helpful hints.

Well, it's been a month since it went back together again and...................



this morning the handbrake failed and oil is leaking out of the drum

I have checked everything numerous times, ensured everything went back together properly and used a variety of seals. I am all out of ideas. There is no mechanic anywhere near me that I would trust to have a look at the car. I'm reasonably certain they would recommend a gearbox rebuild or that I buy a Toyota.

I'll think about it for a while, but happy to hear any ideas/advice etc. before I pull it apart yet again.

Is it possible the oil is leaking out a mount bolt for the handbrake backing plate?