axle shaft seal leaks- again.

[tractorman]

I've got a 1994 Corsica with a 3100, 4 spd. automatic. Three or four years ago the seal where the drivers side axle shaft goes into the transaxle started leaking- it was leaving puddles on the ground. I went to autozone and bought a cheap seal, and put it in. The axle shaft surface was smooth and wasn't grooved. About a week later it was leaking again. So I went to carquest and told them I wanted the most expensive seal they could sell me for that application. They had a National brand seal- the lip and spring was bigger than on the cheap autozone seals. I put that one in, and it didn't leak at all for about a year. After about a year, it started leaking just a little, and now it's leaking enough that I think i should fix it again. I hate to just put another seal in it- I know it'll leak again soon enough. The axle shaft seems a little loose where it goes into the transaxle, but the passenger side is just as loose and has never leaked. Is there a bushing or something I can replace to tighten it up? Any other ideas? The car has about 145,000 miles and runs great otherwise.

I also have a '96 Olds Achieva with basically the same transmission and 190,000 miles. The axle shaft is just as loose where it goes into the transmission as the one in the Corsica is, but it doesn't leak a bit. What gives?

[1988GTU]

I would think the axel or something internal is vibrating/wobbling enough to crap that seal leaving you with a leak...
If it were me and I had enough money, I would put a new/reman axle in and a new seal back in... Then watch it for leaks.
I would look more at the internal of the trans being at fault.



That's all I would do.

My .02 - not 100% sure.

[tractorman]

I gathered some intellegence for this job today. Changed the same seal on the Lumina. It was leaking, but the shaft wasn't loose like on the Corsica. Anyway, I looked to see what supports the shaft. There's a little needle bearing pressed into the chain housing- the inner yoke of the axle shaft rides on it. I've found the problem... now I just gotta figure out how to replace that bearing without taking the transmission apart. Putting a new one in should be easy... it's taking the old one out that's gonna kick my a$$. I took some measurements, and I think I can weld up a slide hammer tool to pull it out.

I'll likely replace the seal with another National seal, replace that needle beearing, and maybe even replace the halfshaft for good measure (it's got almost 150K on it). I'll update when I get around to the job.

[tractorman]

Turns out that my intellegence is lacking. That 4t65-e in the lumina uses a slightly different setup than my corsica's 4t60-e. The only thing that supports the inner yoke of the drivers side half shaft in the 4t60-e is the splined shaft. No bushing, no needle bearing, nothing.

I removed the snap ring from the output shaft and slipped the yoke back on to check. It isn't loose on the shaft at all. The only up and down play is on the output shaft itself. The only fix for that (if it's actually a problem) would be a complete teardown, which I'm not about to do. So, out comes the duct tape... figuratively speaking.

Here's a trick that an old John Deere mechanic showed me- ya'll might find it interesting. If you've got a shaft seal that you just can't get to seal for no apparent reason, you can tighten up a new seal. Remove that little spring from the lip seal- oftentimes the coils 'unscrew' at one point. Cut a little off, screw it back together, and stretch it over the lip. I cut off about 5/32", which should reduce the diameter by .050". Now the lip will be tighter on the shaft (ooohhh yeaaahh...). Put plenty of grease on the shaft (gotta have lube...), and put it back together. It's working great so far... I have no idea how long it'll last. From now on I won't give it a second thought unless it leaves puddles on the ground.

Here's a side-note. As I mentioned in the first post a long time back, the seal I took out today was that $20 National seal from Carquest. This time I bought a seal from the chevy dealer for $6. They were exactly the same seal- both made by National. Carquest sucks.