Date:         Mon, 20 May 2002 15:33:36 -0700
Reply-To:     Blake Heinlein <blakeheinlein@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Blake Heinlein <blakeheinlein@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Question about rear differential seals
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Hello all,

History:
I have a question regarding the oil seals on my differential.  I own a '84
Automatic Vanagon.  Recently I had all of the oil seals replaced on my
automatic transmission and differential.  However I still have leaks.  I
spent some time cleaning and watching where the leak was coming from.  The
oil leak is differential fluid and its leaking from each side of the
differential where the half shafts go in.  (The point were the CV joints are
bolted to the differentail.  From my inspection it's not leaking around the
shaft but rather it's leaking from inbetween the tightening gland and the
differential case.  I looked in Bently and found that there is a O-ring that
was not replaced and that is where it is leaking from.

Question:
Can I back out the tighening gland and then replace the O-Ring without
having to check the differential for backlash?  If I match mark the
tighening gland and count the number of revolutions I back out the gland
will it all mate back together when I retighen the gland.

Commentary:
I want to fix it right by replacing the o-ring but I don't have the tools or
time to pull the differential to have the backlash checked.  My other option
is to just pull the CV joints and half-shafts and put high-temp silicone
sealant on the outside and just try to make the leak stop that way.  Ya
know, the shade tree mechanic style.

Any advice is much appreciated.

Thanks,
Blake
(hope that the text on this email wraps the way it's supposed to)
________________________________
Blake Heinlein
blakeheinlein@hotmail.com
http://members.accessbee.com/heinlein/