Thread: LT230 Output Flange Felt Spline Seals

While stripping down my LT230 (prefix 43D) on my 2004 TD5 Defender 90 (South African built), I removed the front and rear output flanges and came across something beyond my knowledge base (that's not hard!!). The transfer case has only done about 75,000km and I am certain it is stock standard original from factory.
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The felt spline seals that go under the thick metal washer and M20 Nyloc nuts appears to have been soaked in a brown waxy substance that has a pleasant sweet smell. I don't think it is PTFE based but I could be wrong (there is always a first time....). The waxy substance has also crept up into the splines and onto the shaft thread so I am guessing it was quite runny when first applied, probably by soaking the felt washer before installation. The wax is firm at room temperature but I can easily press my nail into it. It appears not to be soluble in mineral turps or transfer case oil which would make sense.
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As a seal to prevent transfer case oil leaking out of the splines, the waxy substance has worked a treat and the flanges were easily removed once the nuts were undone. Of course, now I would like to replicate this seal but I am not sure what product was used. I am not keen on using the often recommended Loctite Retaining compound (or similar) applied to the splines to seal them as I would imagine the flanges will be very difficult to remove at some point in the future. I have a similar concern about using silicone or polyurethane goo sealants.
Anybody have any ideas what the brown waxy substance might be?

Originally Posted by Max Headroom 2.3m

Good call but then the question is which Hylomar product? There seems to be about a dozen grades. Most of them appear to be a blue colour and designed as non-setting jointing compounds. I will contact Hylomar in the UK and see what they think. The only Hylomar product I am familiar with is Hylosil 100 Series which are silicone sealants.

My bad. Had a closer look at the decades old bottle to find it is 'Loctite 3' an aviation gasket glue, brown, and certainly not sweet smelling.