Venting Reduction Boxes for Off Road Use?

thefladge

I'm rebuilding my reduction boxes with NOS German bearings and I'm considering the idea of venting them to a breather of some kind. This might reduce leaks and prevent a buildup of pressure at high speeds or while abusing them off road.

I'm not aware of anyone doing this before, but since the entire transaxle only has a tiny hole by the nosecone as a vent, it seems like there might be some benefit to this modification.

They are mounted in the laydown position, so this drilled and tapped hole can also serve as a fill hole for the gear oil.

So, I'm looking for opinions or maybe somebody with some experience in this area.

Passenger side:

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1957 Vintage Baja Bug.
2110cc engine, 40 IDF Webers, Engle 120 cam, Bugpack Street Pro Heads, 12.5 pound Flywheel. Spare 1641cc engine.

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thefladge · Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 8:06 am Post subject:

As I see this topic drift further and further down the list without a response, I realize that I will have to just give this a try and see how it works out.

I'm not sure what I will vent the reduction boxes to. Either an air cleaner on the engine or maybe it's own separate breather box.
_________________
1957 Vintage Baja Bug.
2110cc engine, 40 IDF Webers, Engle 120 cam, Bugpack Street Pro Heads, 12.5 pound Flywheel. Spare 1641cc engine.

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crawdizz · Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 8:41 am Post subject:

I vote separate breather boxes. i saw once in a old issue of 4wheel and off-road where they where waterproofing and they ran longer vent lines on there trans/tcase and axles up to the top of their ARB snorkel with vw fuel filters in the vent lines for extra protection. Pretty sweet. Dont forget to post pics of what you come up with

modockid · Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 8:42 am Post subject:

i vote to the carb aircleaner, make sure you route the hose up the trailing arms and give enough for movement , i'd use a inline vw fuel filter for added protection , secure secur secure . also if you plan to go this far do the same thing with the trans and maybe even do a snorkel for the carb , i'd make sure and waterproof and sand proof all electrical and engine components too , just to be on the safe side
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thefladge · Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 10:00 am Post subject:

Making progress.

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_________________
1957 Vintage Baja Bug.
2110cc engine, 40 IDF Webers, Engle 120 cam, Bugpack Street Pro Heads, 12.5 pound Flywheel. Spare 1641cc engine.

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thefladge · Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 9:41 pm Post subject:

The reduction box breather system is now complete. I plan to test it tomorrow.

Pictures coming soon.
_________________
1957 Vintage Baja Bug.
2110cc engine, 40 IDF Webers, Engle 120 cam, Bugpack Street Pro Heads, 12.5 pound Flywheel. Spare 1641cc engine.

Attention vendors! Don't send me racist political spam and expect to keep me as a customer.

modockid · Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 10:13 pm Post subject:

Mr. Unpopular · Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 8:45 am Post subject:

I'm wondering if the vents will work or just piss gear oil out of the system? It seems to me the reduction box sits below the normal gear oil level in the trans (especially in an off-road application where the torsions are cranked up some). If the boxes are below fluid level, the oil will just come out of the vents until the level gets below the vent.
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thefladge · Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 7:19 pm Post subject:

I took the car for about a 20 minute drive today and things went well. All new German wheel bearings in the reduction boxes and my experimental breather system for the reduction boxes worked well with no problems or leaks.

After driving, I checked the breather box to see if any gear oil found its' way up there. None did.

My idea behind this is to prevent transaxle leaks due to any pressure that might build up inside during use.

The hoses run along the wheel wells and down by the shock absorbers. There is plenty of slack in the hose to compensate for rear suspension movement.

The hoses might seem vulnerable, but they are up high and should not be any more vulnerable than the brake lines or emergency brake cables.

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_________________
1957 Vintage Baja Bug.
2110cc engine, 40 IDF Webers, Engle 120 cam, Bugpack Street Pro Heads, 12.5 pound Flywheel. Spare 1641cc engine.

Attention vendors! Don't send me racist political spam and expect to keep me as a customer.

modockid · Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 7:38 am Post subject:

joescoolcustoms · Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 8:37 am Post subject:

I like the cylinder numbers on the breather box.
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thefladge · Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 5:16 pm Post subject:

I drove the car around today to test the changes I had made. I put about 12 miles on the car.

The breather for the reduction box seems to work fine. No gear oil found it's way into the breather and there were no leaks.

Whether the lack of leaks was the result of the breather or the new bearings, spacers and seals is hard to determine, but new seals and spacers in the past had never solved the problem.

If everything is still leak-free in a month, I will consider this a success.
_________________
1957 Vintage Baja Bug.
2110cc engine, 40 IDF Webers, Engle 120 cam, Bugpack Street Pro Heads, 12.5 pound Flywheel. Spare 1641cc engine.

Attention vendors! Don't send me racist political spam and expect to keep me as a customer.

Vanapplebomb · Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 8:23 pm Post subject:

Your breather for the reduction boxes got me thinking...

Would it be better to plumb the transmission vent hole to a filter or breather box like your reduction boxes are? I am thinking more along the lines of dust, not pressure...that open hole bothers me.

Sorry to jack this thread, it just made me curious...
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thefladge · Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 9:31 pm Post subject:

thefladge · Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 7:46 pm Post subject:

I took the car out for another drive today. I got it up to freeway speed for about 40 minutes.

Everything is still working great. No leaks at the reduction boxes and no gear oil in the breather box.

I'm going to classify this as a success.
_________________
1957 Vintage Baja Bug.
2110cc engine, 40 IDF Webers, Engle 120 cam, Bugpack Street Pro Heads, 12.5 pound Flywheel. Spare 1641cc engine.

Attention vendors! Don't send me racist political spam and expect to keep me as a customer.

thefladge · Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2012 3:11 pm Post subject:

UPDATE

Well, another leak has developed on the passenger side reduction box. A leak that seems to be at least as bad as the old leak it had before all the work I put into fixing it.

Right now my frustration level is through the roof!

At this point I don't know if there was any value in adding the vents to the reduction boxes, but I doubt if that could have caused the new leak.

Nothing is dripping down the back of the backing plates. It just seems to drip off the bottom of the brake drum. Gear oil is getting all over the inside of the rim and I'm sure another set of break shoes have been ruined.

I do not know what I need to do to solve this leak once and for all!

I replaced all the bearing with NOS German ones, I cleaned every part to perfection and replaced all the seals and I installed new spacers.

I'm getting ready to throw in the towel with this problem.
_________________
1957 Vintage Baja Bug.
2110cc engine, 40 IDF Webers, Engle 120 cam, Bugpack Street Pro Heads, 12.5 pound Flywheel. Spare 1641cc engine.

Attention vendors! Don't send me racist political spam and expect to keep me as a customer.

WilliamA · Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2012 7:06 pm Post subject:

Hang in there. Just keep working the problem. I doubt there are many RGB equipped rides that don't drool a bit. Most of the problem is the damned lower axle seal. Check your stub shafts for small (microscopic) pits and nicks. A little time with some emory cloth on the axles where the seal rides is time well spent. If you've got new bearings, then the assumption is that the problem is in the seal. I coat all of my gaskets with paint-on gasket sealer and that helps a lot. Since the inside of the drums is where you are getting the gack, you might want to check and make sure the o-ring hasn't been damaged during install. Also coat the bolts that hold the backing plate on to the RGB! Especially the set of 3 bolts that hold the brake adjuster on. Plenty of space for mischief there! Get rid of any lock washers on those bolts and try copper washers or equivalent.....Use the paint-on sealer with those too.

Keep working it. I'm putting an RGB swing-axle together right now for my sand rail/woods crawler and am interested in this thread. Let us know how it's going....

I like the vents! I don't think it makes too much diff where you have them vented. It's a good idea. Just keep the vent high and throw a dust cap on the inlet. Keeps the ladybugs out!

WilliamA
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