Oil in the driveshaft tube
 

I know this has been discussed before, but I don't know how to search it.

A friend of mine has a 32 coupe, flathead powered with the original torque tube rear end.
The car has a dropped axle and big and little tires, so there is a rake to it, but not severe.
He has oil coming into the driveshaft tube and wants to know how this is fixed? He is not computer literate.
Anyone help?
Thanks so much
Jim

Re: Oil in the driveshaft tube
 

Contact Bruces Hot Rod shop in Oklahoma, they have what appears to be a well thought out seal. I'm going to get one for my project as well.
Paul J.

Re: Oil in the driveshaft tube
 

A cheap temporary fix if he does'nt want to get into teardown at this time is 2 ea. 2" x 10" wood blocks to put the front wheels on when parked in the garage. A friend of mine with a '32 and dropped front does this and it works perfectly.

Re: Oil in the driveshaft tube
 

This is the way. For a more permanent fix, Vern Tardel sells a baffle that fits in the torque tube. Another idea would be to have two car ramps in the garage. When he drives in, just drive the front wheels up the ramps.

Re: Oil in the driveshaft tube
 

Some solutions.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...+tube+oil+seal
Also go here.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...+tube+oil+seal

Also, check out the product offered and made by Bruce's Rod Shop in TX.
www.brucesrodshop.com

Re: Oil in the driveshaft tube
 

This was an old trick to balance a drive shaft . Drill a hole in the shaft , pore in a quart of automatic transmission fluid reseal the hole. when the shaft turns it is perfectly balanced. That fluid is leaking some where in the shaft. This comes from a guy looking for 41 Merc parts Please let me know if this is the problem I havnt heard of anyone using this method for some time but I know it works Gord

Re: Oil in the driveshaft tube
 

Danny Burroughs at Bruce's Rod Shop makes a top quality torque tube seal. I've used one on a '32 rearend, and one on a '40 rearend. Here's a photo of the '40 seal kit:

http://distilleryimage2.s3.amazonaws...0a1f90e8_7.jpg

Re: Oil in the driveshaft tube
 

Thanks everyone.
That Bruce's Rod Shop deal seems like the way to go
Jim

Re: Oil in the driveshaft tube
 

^^^^ Does that one above just run on the od of the 6 spline coupler?

Mart.

Re: Oil in the driveshaft tube
 

Try more grease in the "U" joint. G.M.

Re: Oil in the driveshaft tube
 

The tt seal in post #7 looks like it might run/seal at about center of coupler on the solid type driveshaft used in 38/39 to 48. It also looks like it could seal on the earlier tubular driveshafts but may require a slightly different seal inner diameter pressed into the seal mounting tube as shown in that picture. A very nice design but seems as though it would move the tt forward by the thickness of the flange and extra gasket. Maybe that's not an issue?

Re: Oil in the driveshaft tube
 

I think it is a good idea. The insides of the torque tubes are not machined accurately or the same in all cases. Most cars with this problem are modified and probably have a shortened torque tube and driveshaft from a later car. Factoring in the extra flange length during the shortening would be easy.

If trying to add it to an existing car, the axle/torque tube would probably not be bothered by the extra length, but refitting the radius rods might mean a bit of filing and welding/redrilling to make it work.

Mart.

Re: Oil in the driveshaft tube
 

It would move the rear backward by the thickness of the flange. There was a thread a while ago on the same topic. Richard Lacy posted that he had a customer who put a later rear into a '32 and then installed a similar seal. When he installed the seal, the banjo casting interfered with the rear crossmember. Turned out that when he installed the rear, he had the torque tube shortened to the same length as the original (early) '32 torque tube. Turns out that the banjo casting is about .40" longer on the later rears than the early. The suspension, etc was able to absorb the .40", but the additional .12" or so caused the interference.

Just found that old thread:
http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showth...rque+tube+seal

Re: Oil in the driveshaft tube
 

The flange of the seal kit is a lot thinner than what you guys are thinking. I didn't measure it before, but I would guess that it's less than 1/16" inch. The wishbone bolts right back up to the torque tube without any issues.

Re: Oil in the driveshaft tube
 

The direction of movement would depend on various factors. The banjo rear could be nailed in place such that it won't or can't always move back. One scenario would be rear radius rods attached to the frame instead of the torque tube. I agree that the thickness of that flange is not that significant and that thickness increase can be moved forward by shifting transmission and engine forward slightly at there mounts to the frame. I'll read that old thread to see exactly how the rear, transmission and engine were mounted to the frame.

Re: Oil in the driveshaft tube
 

Based the thread mentioned above on PeteVS's post, Richard Lacy is saying the flange on that seal is 1/8" thick, not less than 1/16" thick...just saying.

Re: Oil in the driveshaft tube
 

I just measured one from Bruce's and the flange is 1/8" thick. I've been meaning to suggest to Danny that he make it 1/16" instead. We made one for Dennis' T a few years back and made it 1/16" and was not a problem having it thinner. The extra thickness does create some issues regarding the clearance with the rear cross-member and alignment of the radius rod bolt/holes, not insurmountable but a PITA nonetheless...

By the way, Bruce's is in Spring TX, not OK !!!