LP2A carrier diff grease seals

[Big D]

Good evening carrier experts,

I’m looking for some advice on an issue with my carrier.

I am in the process of doing a few overdue jobs on my LP2A carrier in preparation for a couple of shows starting in Easter. The diaphragm in the fuel pump is shot so I am replacing that. The steering box is also leaking a bit so I will repair that. I am also replacing the rear sprockets. The old ones were well worn and I had some NOS ones to replace them with. At the same time, I wanted to check the rear brake shoes and drums and adjust them correctly. The brakes have not been right since I got the carrier and the adjustments I was making with the shoes on were not improving them.

I did the driver side first. Inspection with the drum off showed the brake shoes and drum were fine and after some tweaking, I am now happy with the adjustment on these now, subject to some testing with the engine running before I fit the tracks again.

I made a start on the other side as well but I’ve noticed that there is oil through the hub area, which has come through from the axle shaft. I’m not sure how long this has been going on. There is no sign of any leakage at the hub and the gasket and sealant on the axle end was obviously doing a good job keeping the oil in the hub area.

I presume the grease seal in the axle housing at the diff end is the culprit, although the manual I have on that is not clear.

Is that the only seal between the diff and the hub? There is not copious amounts of oil in the hub area but enough to make a mess with the grease. I guess there are bigger issues than this but still.....

If this is the problem seal, how big a job is it to drop the axle out and replace this?

I don’t have a lot of time between now and the shows, but now would be the time to do it, while I have the tracks off.

My choice of location in the shed is not ideal, so I would need to make some more space if I’m going to do it.

[Lynn Eades]

Hi Darryl, The Ford axle does not have a seal in the tube, so don't pull your diff.
The inner hub seal has a flange that pokes into a ring mounted by the bolts that mount the brake backing plate. If the inner hub seal leaks, oil is flung / fed into this tin shield and drains out the back of your backing plate, through a ( tell tale) hole at the lowest point. These block up easily and require occasional clearing.
There could be an outer hub seal, but not all carriers have them(parts book)
It is found between the two retaining nuts. The seal in the Australian pattern carriers is a cast ring that is fitted to the outer circumference of the pegged locating washer. The outside fits snug into the turning hub and the locating washer stays static on the axle stub.
This prevents diff oil running / migrating through, and mixing with the wheel bearing grease.
There is a plug in the hub. I think you are supposed to replace the plug with a grease nipple, pump in a bit of grease, and refit the plug. Now days you would pack the bearings on assembly, and forget about them for 5 or 6 years.

IF you carrier does not have the outer seal then basically I would avoid parking my carrier side ways on steep slopes, where diff oil might run through the grease and out through the inner hub seal.
You diff should only be filled to the bottom of the fill hole, which means quite an angle would be required.
I hope that's what you need.

[Andrew Rowe]

Hi BIG D, straight forward, pull axle out, undo nuts that retain wheel bearings, remove drum. You will see the inner hub seal, get a new one from AJ'S $50 each or I can send one down. These are held in by a retaining ring, that can be tricky to flick out, use small flat blade screw driver to lever one end of the retaining ring out, you will see there is a slice cut on the ring for such a purpose.
Knock the inner bearing out and the seal will come with it probably, should take you at least 5 mins for the job, cheers Andrew.

[Big D]

Hi Lynn and Andrew

Awesome. Many thanks for the prompt replies. I wasn’t looking forward to the prospect of replacing a seal in the axle tubes!

That certainly helps and I will have another look at it tomorrow.

Thanks again.