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    • #56392

      The transmission and differential seals on TR’s, Sunbeam’s and MG’s always seem to
      leak causing that wonderful coating on the bottom of your car. Well,
      maybe it isn’t the seal leaking!

      I had “finished” overhauling my differential and it was set aside for
      the next project. It was hanging on jackstands nose down and I noticed
      a small puddle of oil right under the flange. I had just replaced the
      seal and polished the sealing surface on the flange so this was a
      puzzle. The oil was leaking out from under the washer and nut. It was
      torqued to over 85 ft/lb and I would have thought this would provide
      quite a good seal. Wrong! Over the years and who knows how many ham
      fisted backyard mechanics the mating surface between the flange and
      washer was scored. Further, on looking closely, the splines in the
      flange were actually squeezed above the mating surface. The nut and
      washer had been thoroughly torqued down onto just the spline tips. Add
      in the scoring and it was a LEAK. As I was also working on the
      transmission, I checked the trans flange and it was in the same sorry
      shape.

      The only good fix is to chuck the flanges up in a lathe and resurface
      the washer mating surface so the washer can actually act as a seal. I
      further surfaced just the splines another couple of thousands below the
      washer surface as the torque on the splines wants to squeeze out the
      splines into the washer lifting it away from the surface, thus leaking
      over time. By the way, no amount of gasket sealer will seal up this
      joint and will only glue your nut to the flange. Tip courtesy of Tom Wiencek.

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