VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 '32 Rear Axle Seal

I'm going to need some guidance from those who have been this way before. I will change out the outer and inner seals with new from Filling Station. My first trouble was with understanding how to modify the housing (10 bolts) without spoiling it since the old felt was crimped in. Second trouble was in getting the axle out to get at the inner seal. Doing what the manual says didn't work since between the weight of the drum and drag of the brake shoes, I didn't get enough inertia to start the axle. Any tips?

i did mine several years ago, so memory is a bit fuzzy. a machinist friend took my housings and turned off one side of it to just match the new seals, pressed them in and it looks and seems to work wonderfully.

Did mine a short time ago. From memory, I took the hub off and I also took off the brake backing plate since I was fitting new felts to the emergency brakes, and generally cleaning up the brake cams, levers etc. With the brakes out and the hub put back on end of axle (give axle nut a couple of turns), a few sharp tugs got the axle moving outwards as others had suggested it would.

As for the seals, the inner old seal comes out with a simple puller, or any sort of homemade pull device. I bought the FS inner which came ready to install, and you just need to be carefull to fully tap it home (use length of 1.75" pipe)and carefully reinstall axle, avoiding damage to seal, and ensuring splines align. I did have some trouble getting the outer seal pressed into the retainer, had to file the bumps a bit so it would go in, no big deal.

Assuming you are leaving the old style bearings, then you pack the inner seal area with good bearing grease, install axle/bearing, tapping carefully until fully seated, then fill retainer with grease and bolt it in place once brake backer plate is in place. A surprisingly easy job!

Finishing up, take care in tightening the 10 - 5/16" bolts as they can be twisted off easily (I snapped one, would suggest you use new ones as old ones may have been over torqued before). Also, some anti-seize on the axle shaft before placing hub back on will make it easier to get off next time. Make sure key is in proper location, and tighten axle castle nut up completely to avoid any chance of play and then back to first cotter pin hole. Bob's your uncle!

You will need to remove the brake drum and the axle hub with a puller to gain access to remove the bolts which hold the bearing retainer plate to the main backing plate.Remove the axle bearing retainer plate. When you have removed the drum and hub , back off the brake shoes so that they are away from the drum. Re-install the drum and hub loosely and put the nut back in place . leaving a bit of space between the nut and the hub. Pull on the drum and hub to hit the nut a few times ,and the axle and bearings will be removed from the axle housing.