wheel seals

busshawg · July 20, 2010, 02:43:55 PM

Well it's been awhile but I'm back. I replaced a drive axle wheel seal on my MC9 and the darn thing is still leaking. A couple of questions I have are, can the hub be over tightened before it s backed off and set up?
How particular are these seals, or are they really easy to frig up when installing? The reason I ask is that I'm trying to decide wheather to attemt it again or take it to a shop. We are leaving with it on a trip in about a week and a half, and it looks like about a week wait to get in a shop. Thanks

Grant

gumpy · July 20, 2010, 02:47:13 PM

Did you replace the wiper, too?
Did you use some RTV to seal the new wiper to the spindle tube?
Did you set the bearing properly?

My understanding is that the majority of wheel seal failures are caused from improper bearing adjustment.

Frank @ TX · July 20, 2010, 02:54:38 PM

Busshawg,
Check to see if the axel is vented.
If it is totally sealed pressure will develop from the heat inside.
Frank

robertglines1 · July 20, 2010, 04:16:10 PM

dito on the axle vent---take it out and try to put air thru it..must flow freely ...have this problem on various vehicles in past..dobber nest or tar from road on one..

bobofthenorth · July 20, 2010, 06:04:35 PM

FWIW Grant I've had no luck whatsoever with Stemco seals. If that's whats leaking I'd chalk it up to experience and get me some CR seals. This spring when we did the tags I let myself be talked into putting Stemcos in and sure enough, by the time we got to Archerwill (100 km from Nipawin) I knew that the curbside was leaking. I changed it in the campground east of Regina, put a CR in on the curbside and put another one in the bay for a spare. So far the driverside Stemco is holding but that will be the first one that ever has on this bus since we bought it.

buswarrior · July 20, 2010, 06:59:12 PM

The seals need to be installed with a proper sized tool, banging it in by working around is a source for trouble.

Letting the seal drag on the axle tube when putting assembly back on is another problem area.

What condition was the surface where the seal sits/runs? Rust is the devil on our old stuff.

Yup, frustrating to say the least when a job done comes back to bother us some more.

happy coaching!
buswarrior

busshawg · July 21, 2010, 06:32:27 AM

Thanks guys, my vents are working so it's not that. My guess woudl be that maybe I let the seal drag on the axle when reassembling. The surface looks really good so it was probably my error. BOTN, sounds like CR is the way to go, thanks for that and it also sounds like I should carry a spare.

Grant