1928Commander Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 My '26 Studebaker Big Six EP differential is leaking where the drive line enters the differential. I know that some leaking is normal and this is not the only leak my car has. It is the most annoying because every time I drive any distance, the drive line flings a fair amount of the grease on the underside of the rear floorboards, exhaust, and springs. I have filled the differential with the thickest lube that I can find. So thick that it took several hours to gravity feed through a funnel. And I have tightened both of the "locking packing collars" on the shaft as tight as possible, but no success. I'm not sure how difficult it is to replace the seal in this differential. Before I tear into it, I was wondering if anyone else has conquered this problem? -Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batwing-8 Posted July 14, 2012 Share Posted July 14, 2012 I'm not familiar with your particular car, but I can tell you from past experience that all of the vintage cars I've owned with leather pinion seals have leaked some oil. The only solution I've found to cure the problem is to replace the original leather seal with a modern Nitrile or Viton seal. If you can find an exact OD/ID replacement, consider yourself fortunate. On occasion, I've had to machine a special "carrier" in order to adapt a seal with a non-matching OD.Also, be careful about over-thick lube in the differential. Too-thick lube can "channel" and allow the ring and pinion to run "dry" if the speed of the gears is faster than the ability of the lube to spread and fill-in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dictator27 Posted July 14, 2012 Share Posted July 14, 2012 What batwing said. The extra heavy oil may be a case of the cure being worse than the disease.Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest studepeople Posted July 14, 2012 Share Posted July 14, 2012 I stopped this problem by making adapter plates and installing a modern drive line with needle bearing spicer u-joints.......no more mess...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest manitoba27stude Posted July 15, 2012 Share Posted July 15, 2012 I stopped this problem by making adapter plates and installing a modern drive line with needle bearing spicer u-joints.......no more mess......you wouldnt happen to have pictures of what you did?im presently working towards this very thing.also did you fit a slip yoke too?thanks.sorry for the hijack.any decent parts guy should be able to measure up the old seal,and come up with something close.i have been through this many times,it seems like the seal sizes are limitless.it all is relevant to how long you are willing to wait for parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest studepeople Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 To Manatoba; No I have no pictures of what I did for both my 30 and 31 Presidents. The flange rings(pinion) on the rear end and transmissions made making adapters some what easy if you have a lathe. I went and talked to a drive line shop . They lent me the piece of a modern drive line I could use to make the bolt up for my adapters.Then after I measured the face to face with the adapters in place and car up on jack stands under the axils. They could then make a new drive line with u-joints and slip yoke......it works great and now no mess and no part problem any more..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1928Commander Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 Thanks to everyone for the insight. It sounds like the best solution is to tear it down and look for a modern seal to fit. This will be a good task to fit in over the winter... -Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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