Replace axle seal?

[Oldman]

Gonna Stick this thread…….lots of good info. 

[Tintop]

Probably very good. I was not paying attention to that at all, just focused on getting the seal out. If that could be the problem, how do I get that ring back to where it should be?

that adjusting ring has the outer race of the tapered roller bearing pressed into it.... so when it is unscrewed you lose your bearing preload.

it usually works out to be that they sit into the case by about 0.2mm but that all depends on wear 


you don't want to tighten it down too tight ... or loose (you are adjusting the bearing)

if you have a torque wrench (or know the feel) you'd aim for about 12 in lb (so 1 ft lb) of resistance when turning the axle   (i.e. not much at all)

[Tintop]

considering that you have driven with the axle bouncing around, just do a quick check that the spring on the back of the seal hasn't flicked off

[d_honeyman]

I unscrewed the large adjusting ring slightly to replace the rubber O-ring that is towards the front of it. When.it was slightly out I had that "wobble".  Once tightened, the shaft was all nice a secure again .  I just used the plastic toothed cover thingy (sorry, there is probably a technical name for it) to tighten it all up, like it was a spanner.

My large adjusting ring is screwed in all the way and inset by about half a mm.  Yours looks to be protruding in the video.  Fingers crossed that is your issue.

Thanks Pabloako. I just looked and I can indeed turn the adjusting ring and it fixes the wobble   Mine seemed to be protruding quite a bit, and there's no way I changed it that much while I was prying the seal out. I can see the orientation it was originally at as there is gunk from the leak, so I know that bit was at the bottom. If I put the adjusting ring back where I think it was though it's still 'protruding'. When you say yours is inset by half a mm do you mean you screwed it in until it was flush with the diff casing and then kept going another half a mm?

[Oldman]

If it was me, I'd Follow Patrick's (Tintop) guidance on tightening the adjusting ring....

[Pabloako]

Thanks Pabloako. I just looked and I can indeed turn the adjusting ring and it fixes the wobble   Mine seemed to be protruding quite a bit, and there's no way I changed it that much while I was prying the seal out. I can see the orientation it was originally at as there is gunk from the leak, so I know that bit was at the bottom. If I put the adjusting ring back where I think it was though it's still 'protruding'. When you say yours is inset by half a mm do you mean you screwed it in until it was flush with the diff casing and then kept going another half a mm?

Mine was originally flush with the casing and I marked it with paint and counted the turns as I unscrewed it slightly.  I replaced the O-Ring and then tightened it back up to where the paint mark was (flush with the case) and then tightened it a tiny bit more.  I measured it and it is just under half a mm inset, so slightly tighter than before.  Perhaps my bearing is slightly worn.
I went for a test drive this morning and the oil leak has stopped     Then I noticed it has started to leak on the other side. 

As others have said, tighten it up and see if that fixes it.  I guess it can't get any worse.

[d_honeyman]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. Per Tintop's advice I tried my torque wrench. Even with the adjusting ring quite tight the axle would not give enough resistance to trigger the torque wrench, even on it's lowest setting. I have set the adjusting ring to be just slightly inset, maybe .1 or .2 mm. Took it for a drive and it seems ok, but maybe sluggish - not sure if tightening the ring too much might have this effect? Could just be my imagination as I was a bit paranoid on the test drive!! Anyway appreciate the help from everyone

[Tintop]

I haven't seen any posts about ongoing issues so I assume you guys have sorted out your axle seals 


... looks like it's not just Kombis that have this problem


   

[Pabloako]

Yes, the right hand side is perfect and not leaking a single drop. 
Now the left is doing exactly the same as it's brother the other side did. 

I guess I should have done both at the same time, so my fault.