Mr. Pecher, Help!

I drained and replaced the oil in my '40 Cabriolet Transmission, boy was it an ugly black. Anyway, I was careful to not over fill it (and have not replaced the oil in the rear end yet) a few weeks later I notice a small puddle of oil on the floor underneath where the drive shaft bolts to the tranny. A friend mentioned that it probably needs the cork seal replaced, does that sound correct? Is this a major project or is it fairly simple? Thanks.

Well it's not a real big job but there's more that can leak than just the cork seal inside the the ball cap retainer. Why don't you first tighten the 4 nuts that secure the ball cap to the rear of the transmission. There are 2 gaskets sandwiched between the inner thrust plate and the ball cap that may be leaking. The fresh tranny oil probably mixed with the u-joint lube making it easer to leak past "things". After tightening those nuts and you see lube actually dripping out the ball cap where the torque tube goes thru then the cork seal is probably bad. I believe there is a better replacement seal available to replace the cork. Might check with Van Pelt Ford. The cork seal fits in a square goove in either half of the ball cap and is the same for Fords and Mercs up to '48.

Look for a B-4516 on page 24 of Joe's Antique Auto catalog. They've got the cork type. I ordered a felt seal from Roy Nacewicz (Cat.# D-002) but it looks too big to fit in the slot.

Finally got around to replacing transmission seals in my '41 and got myself into trouble by pulling the main shaft rear bearing retainer and popping out the three springs, balls, and inserts that go under the 7106 hub sleeve. Will I have to pull the main shaft to fit them back in? There's just no way to access both sides of the hub and sleeve at the same time.

Dave, you almost need three hands to fix this with the main shaft still in (but loose) the transmission case. This has happen to me and you might be able to move the sleeve far enough forward to start the springs and balls and hold them inplace until you can slide the sleeve back far enough to hold them in place. I think you will probably have to drop the cluster, remove to main shaft (for good access) in order reassemble the balls and springs then assemble the main shaft and rear bearing mount into place being careful not to pull the 7106 sleeve too far forward before the main shaft enters the main drive gear. The only concern when reassembling the counter shaft is getting the lock pin hole lined up with the pin bore in the case. the lock pin also goes thru the reverse ildler gear shaft, but the reverse ildler shaft will probably not move. If you drop the cluster gear you will be able to do some "sealing" on the counter shaft if it's been leaking a tad at either end.

Dee, thanks once more for your helpful guidance. I'm trying out some ideas before I commit to pulling the main shaft as I will probably find a way to mess something else up in the process. I'll let you know how it goes. Besides I've seen no sign of leakage at the ends of the counter shaft and I'd like to keep it that way.

Have you tried wrapping the 7105 assembly with a strip of cardboard as you assembly the springs at the back and then the ones at the front. After you get the s*$# back in the cat put a zip tie around the cardboard to hold it in place. Then as you slip 7106 over it slide the cardboard back and when 7106 covers the balls you can cut the zip tie and remove the cardboard. This takes 2 1/2 hands....

That will be Plan B.

Problem solved. After cogitating on it for a couple weeks, I used some tie wire to hold the 7116 inserts in place and one-by-one installed the balls, sliding the inserts under the collar and holding them there with bent sheet metal clips until they were all in place.