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Wed Aug 20, 2008 9:31 pm

Question: My drivers side RGB pours out gear oil BUT only when it's jacked up off the ground, as in when changing a tire.
No, it's not empty and leaking when lifted due to trans oil running down the axle tube. I have filled the box when back on the ground and no leak. I put in a new seal, filled the box, drove it several hundred miles with not so much as a drop of oil coming out. When I jacked up the rear of the bus tonight to switch out my wheels oil pour out of it again.
Any ideas as to what might be going on? Thanks

Wed Aug 20, 2008 9:33 pm

Pour out of where, exactly?

Wed Aug 20, 2008 9:42 pm

Out the back, looked to be coming from above the weep/drain hole. Maybe from between the backing plate and the box?
It's a small-nut RGB if that makes a difference.

Wed Aug 20, 2008 9:59 pm

wheel seal

Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:03 pm

How's the reduction box feel? Does it feel tight or it it all worn out?

Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:03 pm

I heard it has to have pressure to seal. My Bus is sittin in my garage right now with the back end jacked up and the RGB's are leaking. Before it goes back down I'm going to do the whole axle seal bit. What a PITA

Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:24 pm

I did the wheel seal, and it's not leaking from the weep hole so it seems like the wheel seal is doing its job.
I know that the axle nut needs to be tightened to torque-spec to keep things from leaking and mine are.
As for worn out.... well it could be for sure. I've never really had a rebuilt gear box or RGGs so I don't have a real good frame of reference on that one. The bearing back there have been making some funky sounds under "load", if I take my foot off the gas and ease back into it it seems to go away.

Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:30 pm

Aaron wrote: I did the wheel seal, and it's not leaking from the weep hole so it seems like the wheel seal is doing its job.
I know that the axle nut needs to be tightened to torque-spec to keep things from leaking and mine are.
As for worn out.... well it could be for sure. I've never really had a rebuilt gear box or RGGs so I don't have a real good frame of reference on that one. The bearing back there have been making some funky sounds under "load", if I take my foot off the gas and ease back into it it seems to go away.

If you make it down to Oly at some point I could help you figure out what's going on with it. I wonder if the sloppy stub axle is "opening up" the seal when it's jacked up.

Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:39 pm

You noted that oil was running down the axle tube then, after that, you stated that oil was coming off of the brake plate by the overflow hole.
If oil were running down the axle tube, the side plate may have too many paper gaskets behind it, which would result in too much play between the dish end of the axle tube and the daisy and side of the transaxle. Oil would gradually accumulate inside the dust cover (rubber boot) and would trickle out down the axle tube when the bus is jacked uo and the axle tube points downward. Less likely is that the daisy could be shot but I have a big stack of them and I have never seen a shot one.
If oil is coming out of the overflow hole in the bottom of the brake plate, the bearing seal needs to be replaced but it should leak oil even when the bus is level. I don't know if a very worn out stub axle outer bearing would have anything to do with it. I would guess that oil has been leaking out of the hole when the bus has been level, too, but in your last thread you thought that oil was not coming out of the hole..

Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:39 pm

It sure seems like something like that is going on, I've never dealt with it before, I did a search but couldn't find anything so I thought I'd ask. Thanks for the offer, and thanks for posting those pics of the '58, very inspiring.

Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:46 pm

Campy, I should have been more clear. By oil coming down the tube, I meant inside the tube. There is no oil running down the outside of the tube. Also, the oil leak is not form the drain hole but above it somewhere, hence I think the new seal I installed in hopes of fixing the leak is doing its job.

Wed Aug 20, 2008 11:01 pm

If the transaxle has the proper amount of oil in it, some oil will go into the axle tube. Clean the inner side of the brake plate and look for the oil leak. Are you sure that there is an oil leak only when the axle tube is pointing downward?

Wed Aug 20, 2008 11:11 pm

If it's leaking above the seep hole but on the back side and only when it's jacked up, maybe a bunch of fluid is running down the tube when it's jacked up and filling up the reduction high enough to reach the point where it's leaking. The fluid level normally sits lower in the tube and reduction box from what I understand.

If it's leaking out the backside it has to be the seal between the backing plate and the reduction box housing, right?

Wed Aug 20, 2008 11:12 pm

Oh I'm sure, like I said not a drop in the several hundred miles on the new seal I put in, and "leak" is an understatement as to what happens when its lifted off the ground, oil pours out.
Maybe it's time to put in the Big nut transmission I have lying around.

Wed Aug 20, 2008 11:20 pm

I guess the weird leak I failed to fix coupled with the random rumbling from back in that corner has me a little paranoid. I guess as long as it's holding oil and not leaking when it's on the ground I shouldn't worry to much.
It sucked, I lifted the rear to switch on my freshly powdercoated rims and brand new tires, one of which I proceeded to cover in gear oil.