Hey Marco!, You out There?

Posted by Kevin Daly on July 15, 1998 at 12:00:00

In Reply to: Re: My Rear End is Killing Me!
posted by Marco on July 14, 1998 at 17:25:06

Hey Marco,
Thanks for the response concerning my rear end oil leak.I'm afraid that the answer to the problem was much simpler than either one of us had expected.I was studying more and more diagrams when I realized that if oil were to seep past the seals along the axle shaft, it would then have to penetrate the grease forced around the outer axle via the grease fittings behind the rear brake backing plates. Even if this happened, the oil would pour directly into the brake drum.There is no way for it to get to the outside of the axle housing and travel back towards the banjo.Considering the tapering of the tube as you move towards the brakes, there would have to be a large volume of oil in each axle tube to even reach the height of the seals.I knew that I didn't overfill the banjo that much, if at all.I was very carefull to fill only to the filler hole.
So what's the result of all of this new found knowledge?The oil in question was not from the banjo at all!The jacked up angle of the car over time caused my rear leaf spring felts to drip some of their oil onto the axle housings and gravity and the housing taper angle took it to the jack stands.This may have been happening all along since I put them on about a year ago and I may not have noticed it.Oh well!, chalk it up to another educational experience.See!, I told you I'd find a way not to pull those brake drums.
Thanks again,
Kevin Daly

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