10 replies to this topic

[Pavel]

Right my mini drips oil out of the rubber gaiter that covers where the driveshaft (right) goes into the diff. The rubber retaining metal ring is not straight and is kinda sideways on the rubber, most probably not offering a good tightening fit.

The car drips a drop every few days from that spot, but if the car is jacked up at the front so that the oil in the sump moves towards the diff (i'm assuming) it starts dripping A LOT... you can see the drops falling every few minutes.

I've heard all i need is a diff output oil seal, and i've heard it can be changed in-situ, but i have no idea how to go about it... any ideas?

If necessary I have access to a pit/ramps :]

[Guess-Works.com]

To change it, you have to remove the drive shaft, which means you'll need it up on axle stands ( doing anything on the fron of the car I use a 1/2 scaffolding plank under the front of the floorpan, and axle stands, means there's nothing in the way )

Once the driver shaft is removed, then you can just remove it with a large flat faced screw driver in put in a new one...

The easiest way to get the drive shaft out of the way, is to undo top ball joint and track rod end off the hub, this gives you enough room to pop the drive shaft out, if it's a little tight, then removing the bottom ball joint, give a lot more room.

also, I'd suggest removing the oil from the engine first, otherwise it may gat a little messy...

[Pavel]

Ouch... just had an oil change... might try to tip the car so all the oil flows to the opposite end of the sump... :]

Cheers so its easier than I thought!

[Jordie]

not nessercarily.

I had to change one of mine. They are spring loaded which can be a bugger to get the old one out, espically if its been in there a long time. took 3 of us, best part of a hour trying to get it out without breaking anything.

New one just slid in and drive shaft in, job done.

[Telejmp]

I dont know if I wasted my time, but when I did mine, I also changed the gaskets on the drive shaft flanges. Mine was leaking so much oil I thought it wouldnt hurt anything if I just did them at the same time, just to be sure.

Ive found the best tool to get the inner CV thingys off is the fork type ball joint splitter, the taper on mine is perfect, just whack that in between the flange thingy and the cv thingy, and they come off easily (the first time I did them, I was messing for ages with screwdrivers and tyre levers trying to get it off)

One last thing.. I dont know if im slightly retarded, but twice now when ive removed a drive shaft ive ripped the inner CV boot/gaitor, they seem to get pretty fragile as they get older, Id advise having a spare ready just in case, or being very carefull. As I say, thats probs just me though.

pEaCE
DOm

[Guess-Works.com]

good point about the splitter, I've got the knack of doing it with a crowbar, but I'm surprised about the gaitors, I've got some which are over 20 years old, and never had a problem... you just have to remeber with pot joints, they will not fit through the hole in the subframe...

[Telejmp]

Guessworks, thats why I break them I think, sometimes I just yank on them untill they come out, and the pot part gets stuck on the hole in the subframe, ripping the rubber. It is soo annoying.
pEaCE
Dom

[Dan]

Jordie, buy a seal pick set from Snap On. Very easy to use.

If you change the diff side plate gaskets you can open a whole world of trouble. The diff needs to be correctly preloaded with shims to within 4 thou to avoid problems. The workshop manuals tell you to remove the sideplates to change the seal, but that is because they are based on the Rover workshop manual to some extent and the Rover manual assumes you will use Rover parts. Even Haynes BOL assumes you use genuine parts. The Rover side plate gaskets are a known quantity and they publish the compressed thickness of the gasket (7 thou incidentaly) so theoretically if you replace like for like they should retain the same preload (which is also why you never reuse sideplate gaskets however good they look). However if you use sideplate gaskets from someone else, or cheaper gaskets or something then the compressed thickness may not be the same. So you would need to buy a few, compress one and measure it and then do the shim calculation from scratch taking the size of the new gasket into account. Unless they happen to be exactly the same compressed size as Rover ones, then you'll be fine.

[Guess-Works.com]

lol...

If you want to removed the driveshaft without taking it out the hub, before you loosen the pot, removed the retaining ring ( cable tie !? ) from round the gator first and take it off, and then withdraw... you can then drop the pot off the side of the diff and falls on you head.. :nugget:

[Jordie]

Had that done too guessworks and drowned in oil because we forgot to drain the engine before lifting.

[Telejmp]

Dan, agh I diddnt realise it was so complicated.. I wish I had known that before. Luckily I dont seem to have any problems, but It would have been nice to know that before I started, lol.
Again this is probarbly really bad, but I never check torque settings, I just do it as tight as I can, then give it some more. maybe I should start taking more care , hehe.
thanks for the info,
pEaCE
Dom