Ham's 48: Timken Rear Axle Question
For an axle that was offered as an option for a number of years, the Timken axle still is a mystery.
On the driver side of the clamshell differential, there is a vent. I suspect the vent is supposed to be spring loaded to allow pressure to vent out of the gearbox to keep from blowing oil out through the oil seals out on the end of the axles.
But - on my Timken axle vent, the spring in the vent has ceased to be a spring and it has turned the vent into an oil geyser. The truck is piddling on the floor - not a good condition.
I've found no reference to a vent for the Timken axle, original W-O part number 644089.
The vent for my axle threads into the axle housing with a tapered thread.
But, there is a vent for a Dana front differential:
https://www.kaiserwillys.com/front-d...ith-dana-25-27
This seems to be a straight thread. What are the threads for this vent, 1/8 NPT?
I may take this vent and use the spring out of it to rebuild my vent. Desperate times demand desperate measures...
Ham's '48: Rear Axle Update
As usual with Old Jeep Projects, what you “know” often turns out to be something you really didn’t know. I’ve griped about rear axle vents leaking oil for a bit, so today while we’re in coronavirus isolation I decided to crawl up under the truck and take a really close look at the problem.
For whatever reason I’m a bit more limber than I was a year ago, so I pretzeled myself up around things and looked at the vent very closely. As they say in football; “After further review, the initial decision is overturned”. The truck was piddling oil profusely yesterday, but there was no oil up around the vent – it’s not coming from there.
I put some solvent on a rag and I cleaned off the left side of the differential/axle joint very well. Hmmm, there seems to be a gap between the axle housing and the differential from about 5 o’clock up past 10 o’clock or so. There is even an area of bright metal showing and the paint around that area has split apart. When I looked at the passenger side – there is no gap and no leak. Something is different here.
The Timken differential case is a clamshell casting. The axle housings look like they were pressed in and secured in place by several big rivets, a two piece assembly. The axle housing has moved in the differential casting, leaving a small void that allows oil to leak out of the axle. Since it is at the bottom, gravity works well to let oil drip out.
I checked the differential lube level, and it is way down – below pointer finger reach – so I’ve lost a good bit of oil out of there. My plan is to clean up the area as well as I can; lots of degreasing spray, carburetor and brake cleaners, high pressure air and maybe even alcohol to get as much oil away from the area as I can. Then I plan to work a sealer into the crack at the seam and run a bead of sealer around the entire joint. (It’s not big enough to pound caulking into it like you would do to a seam on a wooden boat – thank goodness!)
If anyone has a better idea – feel free to share!
I wondered if having the frame straightened might have been the cause of this, but that area has been leaking and dripping for a long time. I suspect it’s just 71+ years taking its toll. Of course I wonder if the left axle housing has cracked at the rivet holes and is compromised – I guess I’d better not load a ton of gravel on the truck to make footings for patios or it might just break in two!