Martin

It's not too bad of a job really once you get started, when we did my special we started early morning and it was back together the same day.

Leon

The Austin is new to me, I have only up until recently done short journeys. Last week I drove it for about 60 miles and the leak has started since then.But I will check the level just in case the previous owner overfilled the axle, thanks for your response to my problem.8

Location: Chichester

Some owners have drilled a drainage hole in the axle case to allow oil that has got past the oil seal to simply drip out. There is no reason why you should not do this as an interim measure until you can do proper repairs.

If you look at your axle under the car from the rear, you will see on each side of the differential are cover plates to the meshing adjustment, the oils seals, which originally were felt, are located to the respective wheel side of these inside the axle case. Modern lip seals can be fitted to replace the felt, but the axle half-shaft needs to be in good condition with a smooth surface, otherwise, the leak will continue.

I re-built my axle last year and I considered the lip seal alteration, but I was worried how they would stay in position in service, I was not comfortable that it would work as well as expected and so I went with the felt seals, as originally fitted.

The only way the seals can be replaced is to strip the axle down, the advice given in the previous post to get the Woodrow Manual is indeed worthwhile!

It is not a difficult job to do for the average mechanic, the difficulty will stem from abuse and past bodges & poorly executed repairs, but once disassembled, damaged parts can be replaced.

Good luck with your repair!

Location: Saltdean, Brighton

Thank you for all your replies to my leak.I am going to clean everything up, and check the back axle oil and experiment with a slightly lower level and keep a close eye on what happens
Thank you all for your help
Martin.

Location: Chichester