Front input shaft?

[superpowerdave]

Okay what am I missing ... transmission is out and on the bench, bellhousing is removed, primary pinion cover is removed - but I can't seem to find the main shaft oil seal?

I'm sure I'm missing something ridiculous, please feel free to make fun of me at your leisure

Seriously, any advice would be awesome as I'd really like to get this rig out of the garage and put some miles on her.

Thanks-

Dave

[greenmeanie]

Its called a wind back seal. Look at the input shaft and you'll see a scroll machined into it. That rides inside a close fit bushing thta you see through the release bearing in your last picture. As the shaft turns any oil that gets splashed into that gap gets pumped back into the casing by the scroll. Its not completely oil tight but works well enough. There is no lip seal as you were probably imagining. SIII boxes went from this design to a more conventional lip seal and clutch release fork.

Just one Land Rover's little jokes.

[superpowerdave]

Hmmmm ... so the seal I bought for a IIA front input shaft isn't the right one? The one I bought is pictured below. Or maybe I bought the wrong part.

[greenmeanie]

Its the wrong part as there is no such lip seal seal on a SIIA input shaft. The SIIA relies on the suck it back in faster than it can run out theory of sealing. It might work for a SIII though.

[superpowerdave]

Okay ... then riddle me this if you will

I replaced the front rear main recently as I suspected that was my leak (I was leaking a good bit of what I believed to be motor oil from the bottom of the bellhousing.) After I replaced the seal and filled up with new oil I cranked her and I was still leaking from the same spot and (from my SIII experience) figured it was the oil seal on the main shaft.

So if it's not the rear main (which it's not, because gray gear oil drained after she was topped off with honey colored new oil, leaked from the bellhousing. So what is leaking? And it's not just a drip, it was a pretty steady stream.

I know these damn things leak ... but there has to be a solution right ... right?

[109 Pretender]

Your IIA gearbox employs a "wet" clutch throwout bearing - all later types used a conventional dry throw-out bearing assembly as normally found on most all other vehicles. You might check the t/o bearing shaft seals (which don't stop much anyway) and also the radial play in the t/o bearing and housing assembly because if its excessive leaks can develop there. Also ck the integrity of the gasketed seal for the t/o bearing housing and the tightness of the fasteners. Most old Rover gearboxes loosen up their fasteners over time.
PS - IIB and earlier rovers should not be parked on a steep incline w/a 'nose down' orientation - gearbox fluid (if full) can and will weep out of the main shaft because it doesn't have a conventional seal as previously mentioned by Meanie. One last thing - your gearbox will always leak some because of various design "elements" inherent in the rover design. Best solution is to ck fluid often, get it muddy regularily and don't spend much at the car wash...

Good luck!

[DiscoDave]

I think I may have found my cuplrit. Upon further inspection of the bearing cover, I noticed that the gasket wasn't held in by anything at all, just sandwiched between the two pieces of metal with no sealant or anything.

Looking further I noted that the bottom of the cover wasn't true, which would make sense as this was where my leak was coming from. I'll slam her back together tonight and see how things look.



EDIT - And for the record I have no idea how I wound up with two different screennames. I just noticed it myself.

[brucejohn]

...I have no idea how I wound up with two different screennames. I just noticed it myself.

Alter egos?

[lstrvr]

I had the exact same thing happen to me. Rebuilt the gearbox, re-installed, filled everything back up and watched the oil just pour out of the bellhousing like crazy. Removed the whole unit again and just sat there scratching my head trying to figure out why it never leaked past that wind-back seal before? Long story short, after investigating a bit further I found that the drunk that rebuilt the box the night before, had somehow managed to sandwich a washer between mounting flanges on that bearing housing, causing the substantial leak. I now have a 2 drink maximum whilst working on anything substantial on the truck.

As 109 Pretender mentioned (also the owner of the nicest series LR I've ever seen), those studs on that throwout bearing housing have a slight tendancy to loosen up sometimes. Hit and miss, but I have found some quite loose at times allowing the housing to shift around.