perfectly dry so far. Now I know how I'm going to do the other one. :)

Hello
I order some o ring for the shaft, but I find this system a bit strange even if it looks to work.
What about using this seal https://jeepest.com/fr/boite-vitesse...ue-bv-m38.html from a M38 jeep it looks to have the same size as the houdaille original packing fels seal ?

Regards
Sylvain

It may fit, but is felt going to seal the oil in? The o-ring idea really does work.
Let us know if you use the felt and how it works for you,and if you want pics or an explanation of how to make the o-ring.
Dave

Shock absorber seals
 

Hi Dave,
I did a big restoration on my F30 10 years ago.
Three shocks were bone dry due to the seals perishing.
I did not want to wreck them taking the arms off and therefore the reservoir cover without having the proper puller.
I managed to free up the threads on the reservoir cover and the lock ring until they could be turned easily by hand.
I wound the cover up as far as possible and the ring down as far as it would go.
That allowed enough room to take the old triangular ring out, clean up the groove and then slip a new standard o ring (can't remember the size sorry) over the arm and down into the groove. A bit of loctite teflon thread sealer in the groove first.
Then wound the cover back to the correct alignment and locked it with the ring.
Also fitted new small o rings under the small pressure adjusting screws in the centre of the shafts.
After lots of flushing out and refilling with glycerine then working the air out by much levering on the arms they all seemed to work ok.
I did all four and so far no leaks anywhere.
Cheers, Terry

Re inventing the wheel
 

Thanks to all the gentlemen who took the time to contribute to this thread.

You have saved me asking multiple questions. I must say whilst clearly the O-ring solution works. I do really like the look of that felt seal that Harley posted a link to.

Trouble might be - how do I get some in Down Under?

Any way. The reason why I pulled this shock apart was that it was leaking. I have noticed that there was a bead of sealant around the cover and Im 99% sure the leak is from the seal around the splined shaft.

I could not get the arm off. Took it to an engineer who said it was a brute of a job.

Getting the cover off turned out to be OK. I used an oil filter strap.

My theory is if it is leaking then at least it is preserved inside and therefore in good condition. It proved correct in this case.

Some pictures

A few more
 

Should note,

These have the straight arm and are 2wd Rear shocks.

Note - I have bolted this on the outside of the chassis to get purchase when unscrewing the cap.

Do you chaps that replaced the seal... have a part number for the O-Ring you used?

Houdaille Shock absorbers- Shaft seals
 

Hi Tony,

I remembered that Frank Curcio in Melbourne who rebuilt my shockers all those years ago gave me an O-ring of the type he used at the shaft for the seal.

I found it with the shocker that he left opened up for me and photos of it which I posted here.

I just put the Vernier on it, very gently I may add, it and as you can see the dimensions are 0.948" ID. the shaft is exactly 1.000" so the smaller size ID would be an advantage.

The diameter of the ring cross section is 0.207"

Although these dimension do not correlate with an imperial size perhaps he used metric O-rings. In that case they could be 24mm x 5.25mm or something like that.

They never leaked from the shaft with them. I had a small weep from the cover on the base of the shock of one of the four which was unrelated.

Hope this helps or at least points you in the right direction.

Cheers,