Leaking gear oil...

Still have the CJ-5 in the air, but I'm closing in on it. We filled the transfer case yesterday, tonight I have a huge oil slick on the floor of the shop. It looks like I had a slow drip, drip, drip coming off the bottom of the emergency brake assembly. I have to assume that the seal on the output shaft, behind the brake assembly is no good. Can you put that seal in from the 'outside' without removing that 400 lb. transfercase on my Dyna 18?

Thanks in advance. I'd be sunk without the help from this board....

Tom in Frankenmuth

 

Yes you can, also pay close attention to the shim pack when you pull the tailhousing off, alot of these leak thru the shims, when you put it back together use some of the copper permatex spray on the shims to keep these from leaking.

 

You mean the outside of the shim pack, don't you Mike? Not between the shims.

I've used a fillet <edit - not filet! > of silicone on the outside of a D20 pack to seal it. Works well. Must be really clean first, or the silicone won't stick.

 

I actually had to spray it on the shims lightly and stick them together and then put them back in to preload the bearings, I actually preloaded the bearings to the low end knowing that not all of the permatex would squeeze out and when I put it together the preload was right in the middle of the specs. Mine has started to leak a little after 8 years but I have a twin stick kit from Nickmil that will go in there when I reassemble this whole jeep again so I'll fix it again then. (I'm anal about leaks)

 

So is the shim pack something that normally needs to be replaced to take care of the leak? I'm ordering seals and felts from Krage, and the shim set is only another $5 or something.

Thanks a bunch!

Tom

 

Re the shim pack, I don't know specifically about the D18, but I have had some experience with the similar D20. The factory-new D20s wouldn't leak from the shim pack, but they would start to drip once they had been taken apart. My theory is that the factory units are assembled dry, then painted. The paint hardens and seals the outer edges of the shims. You should be able to get the same result with more paint (or silicone sealer on the outside, which is what I did).

Won't make any difference re the leaks if the shims are new or not. You need to put the right thickness of shims in to get the proper bearing preload. The shims are sheet steel, and it seems that the oil will slowly seep out between them if you assemble them without some kind of sealant (like the manual recommends).

 

Thanks,

I think I'll leave the shims alone for now, replace the seals and felts and see if that takes care of the drip, drip, drip that has turned my shop floor into a swamp.

Tom

 

You might as well do the shims now instead of tearing it apart twice cause I'm betting a 12 pack that it's leaking through the shims. Clean them with berrymans and spray them as mentioned earlier and restack and torque. Wait overnite before refilling.

JB

PS- could be the speedo drive also.