Introduction from a New Owner!

[Leisureking]

I have made the mistake of consulting with my family, apparently my daughter’s hairdryer is not an extension of my toolkit….

She’ll be asleep soon though!

[Leisureking]

After a lot of heating and being left over night, this is all that came out.

About 1/3 of a pint. I’m not looking forward to seeing inside!

[Leisureking]

I have continued to think about the differential. I am really hoping I don’t have to take it out and rebuild it as the list of things to do just gets longer and longer!

There is a video of the internals here:

https://youtu.be/8eeJjCNSikc

For some reason there is no sound though! My plan is to fill the differential with some paraffin, put the inspection plate back on and keep turning the wheels to try and clean up as much of the gum as I can, then refill with fresh gear oil and cross my fingers!

The oil has a very acrid, almost burnt smell to it, but no metal fragments in it.

---

I have not been able to find the stamps on the diff housing but the inspection plate is stamped. I assume this means 44 teeth on the crown wheel and 9 on the pinion?

[Mike Costigan]

Yes, exactly that. The other figures - 15 4 30 - is the date of manufacture.

[Leisureking]

Of course! I got the ‘30 bit, but I thought the 4 was something else, given that it isn’t even vaguely in line with the 15 and the 30!

---

While down at this end of the car, I though I had better check the brakes to make sure none of the missing diff oil had made its way out that way.

Unsurprisingly….

[Tony Press]

No rust then 

[Leisureking]

No, remarkably well preserved for a beast of this age. In fact, it appears that some of the rear bodywork came with its own pre-installed rust prevention!

[Jamie]

When I drained my axle, nothing came out and, disconcertingly, there was nothing congealed in the casing either. I was apprehensive what I would find when it came apart, but surprisingly, nothing was particularly worn. I can only assume oil had leaked out over the years of standing before I bought it.

Jamie.

[Howard Wright]

Hi

Couple of suggestions. Others may disagree

I’d be tempted to put some oil in and once you’re on the road see how noisy the axle is.  As long as there is no silvery hue or metal bits in the oil after a few miles I don’t think you will do any harm.

Brake wise, whilst you could replace the shoes with the hubs in place, I would take the hubs off, clean everything and fit sealed bearings. I’m afraid that does mean breaking the taper on the half shaft to hub and this can be problematic in a car that has been standing for a while.

I use Saftek in Sheffield to re-line my brakes.  Seem to be quite grippy although also a bit squeely!

Cheers

Howard

[Ruairidh Dunford]

The oil on the brake shoes is almost certainly leaking past the diff seals.

I normally replace the original felt style with lip seals. You need to remove the diff to do this but it possible to leave the axle in situ and just remove the passenger side tube.