NORS AA rear hub seals

Doug in Maryland

Doug in Maryland

Senior Member
The axle seal on the driver's side rear if my AA got loose from the axle housing and allowed gear oil to run all over the brakes on that side. (This is a '30 bevel gear rear.) While the axle seal looks OK (other than not fitting tightly into the axle housing, which is something that I can fix) the hub seal has a small nick in it. I have some NORS Ford seals that I could use to replace this one. However, they are leather and a bit stiff. Does anyone know of anything that can rejuvinate the leather or should I just go ahead and get new ones? I'd actually prefer to use the Ford parts, since in my experience, they tend to be of higher quality. But I don't want to use something that is essentially doomed to fail. And I really don't know how old these are - probably 40 years if they're a day.

Thanks for any suggestions you might have. I'm still trying to get the oil off the brake shoes, but I might have to replace the linings. Oh well, the good news is that at least this means I'm driving it :).

Doug
 
I thought I'd try to post a few pictures of what I was talking about with the grease seal on my AA.

This first picture is of the NORS AA seal and should be the side that faces the wheel bearing.
IMG_0954.jpg


Next, the side that faces the differential. It's interesting to note that this seal seems to be a tighter fit against the axle housing than the other one.
IMG_0955.jpg


Here is a view of what really caused the oil problem. The axle oil seal came out of the end of the axle housing. It is interesting to note that the original Ford seals I took out were a tight fit but the replacements (made in Argentina) were not as snug.
IMG_0956.jpg


This last shows how the seal (axle) should look. Also, it's easy to see the rust pitting on the axle housing that may have contributed to the original hub seal's failure, although the lip of the seal rides just past these pits. Might be worth it to take some fine sand paper and polish this area....unless someone knows of a good way to fill the pits.
IMG_0957.jpg


Thanks for looking!
Doug
 
Try soaking the seal in linsed oil or soak it in a leather sofening compound used on leather boots such as "Bee Natural Leathercare" It is a conditioner for distressed leather.

Pluck
 
Hello'
Not model A ....But a ford ...I have a 1937 ford 1 1/2 ton with mechanical brakes, that I used old NOS ford seals in about 15 years ago. When I had the rear drums off this spring , everything was good and dry after 30,000 miles. The seals that I used were leather ,and I soaked them in neets-foot oil overnite, I don't know if that was good or bad for them ,but it made them pliable and worked good for me. Neets-foot oil is what we use to waterproof our leather boots before winter
 
Thanks for the comments. I took some clean engine oil and spread that on both surfaces and then put the seal out in the sun (it's 96 in the shade at the moment). The combination of oil and heat seems to have made the leather more pliable than it was. So, maybe this will work.

I also used a razor blade to spread a little JB weld over the pitted area where the lip of the seal runs. Once this sets up, I'll take some fine sand paper and sand it smooth. This should help extend the life of the seal. And that part of the axle housing isn't weight bearing, so I'd think the JB weld would hold up ok. Besides, it's mostly to fill any pitts and irregularities.

Oh, by the way, the replacement seals are leather too - at least for the hub. The axle seal appears to be nitril.
 
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