leaky RGB with a twist

[sanhozeezee]

hey sambonians. new to samba but a long time lurker here. i finally pulled the trigger on a new to me 67 split. for the most part it’s well sorted but i noticed one thing that i’m stumped on. here goes...

passenger side RGB is leaking (i have the seal kit and will be tackling it this weekend). what started out as what looked like regular old tranny fluid/oil is now a red sludge like liquid. viscosity is light enough it could drip from appears to be the box but on the floor it’s semi raised and red in color.

anyone else experience this? i’ll try and snap some pics in the morning but thought i’d throw it out there in case anyone’s come across this before.

[pyrOman]

RED?

Could it be that someone put in transmission fluid in it instead of gear oil?

Still, a leak is a leak and will need to be taken care of.
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[sanhozeezee]

[Clara]

Yes, the center section and boxes are connected.

If someone put a red oil in the trans or RGBs, it will have red oil in it. Like Pyro said. I have not seen this, but odd things happen.

I would
Buy a gallon jug of proper gear oil. I use Sta Lube GL-4. And the pump.
Take the bus for a drive.
Drain the gear oil from boxes and center while warm and stirred up.
Fix the seal/leak.
Fill with new GL -4 gear oil. Fill boxes, put rear wheels on ground. Then fill center till it reaches the fill hole and starts oozing out. There will be some leftover from the gallon jug.

[sanhozeezee]

thanks for the tip clara. appreciate the help

here are some pics of the box itself and the oil on a paper towel for contrast

[busdaddy]

From here it looks like the red is iron oxide, the leak is washing the rust dust out of the slightly loose spring plate to box joint.
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[EverettB]

Is it leaking from one of the reduction box mounting bolts?

I think that means it's leaking from the freeze plug on the back of the late-model "big nut" reduction box so that might have to be pulled and re-sealed.

The seal kit is for the axle seal behind the brake drum.

Maybe someone else can chime in on whether it will leak from there if the freeze plug is leaking.

I would definitely plan on draining and replacing the transmission fluid but you might have a different leak on your hand than you think.
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[cru62]

I’ll betcha the leak is connected with the shock mount which looks to have been welded back on. Looks like a complete tear down is in your future.
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[edgood1]

Is the forward spring plate mounting bolt welded to the spring plate??! Hard to tell from the pic but it looks suspect.
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[Eric&Barb]

Might be 607 Almasol from Lubrication Engineers, Inc.:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=607+Almasol&t=canonical&ia=web

Using that in a transaxle that we got rebuilt, but found that the new manufacture second gear syncro was so tight that it was impossible to downshift into second gear. As per advice of the transaxle rebuilder, changed to Almasol gear oil and second gear is much easier to shift into.
Definitely a red gear oil...
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[big bus mike]

Redline MT90 is also red in color. It was recommended by my transaxle guy.

[EverettB]

[sanhozeezee]

thanks for the replies fellas. i tried i work on this yesterday only to be blocked by the infamous "big nut" 46mm axle nut. no one in the area sells a socket this big lol. i did manage to find a buddy who has one button't be able to get it til he gets back.

in the meantime, to answer some questions, the spring plate bolt isn't welded to the spring plate. i wired brushed it to get a better idea of what's under all the gunk. i think doing that may have disrupted the "gunk seal" and started the new red leak. the oil is coming from the RGB seal for sure. the bright side is the other side is bone dry!

[Eric&Barb]

Get a 3/4" drive socket and a breaker bar to fit that.

If you use 1/2" drive, you will break it all too often.

Check out your local Fastenal store for such. See if they have the Proto "L" shaped breaker bar. That is the strongest style of breaker bar.
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[MrPolak]

Here is my method:

[EverettB]

[sanhozeezee]

not 100% sure but appears to be leaking from the axle seal. i hope it's not the gear box seal itself!

i borrowed a 46mm axle nut from a friend so i plan on tackling this tomorrow or tuesday.

[b-man]

Snap-On 3/4” drive breaker bar and 46mm impact socket.

Had it for over 35 years now, it will never fail me.

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[chrisflstf]

Thats a nice tool, but you cant tighten the nut with the wheel off and off the ground, unless you use another method like above to secure the drum. Still better to tighten it with 4 wheels on the ground and ebrake set wheels blocked

[b-man]