Improved Type of Pinion Seal

[puff4]

In rebuilding my rear axle I found that the original pinion seal is a pretty marginal one. It’s seal #15004, a single lip seal. No surprise that most of my loss of axle oil historically has been from the pinion.

There’s plenty of depth inside the nose of the housing for a thicker seal, so I had my local bearing & seals shop find me a far more robust, fully-cased, double-lip seal - Timken #410059 - which should do a much better job at preventing leaks at the pinion. It is .5000” deep as opposed to the old one at .3125”, but it still fits easily inside the nose of the housing and can be tapped in flush with the housing’s end. It is also a perfectly snug fit on the nose of the pinion flange (1.50” inside dia.). I installed it with a thin film of Hylomar inside the housing, then greased the rubber lips and pinion flange, and put it all together... feels good. With any luck future leaks will now be eliminated.

I post this improved seal upgrade as a suggestion for those doing this job in future. (Oh, and that seal can easily be changed with the axle in situ - I just happened to have the whole pumpkin out to replace the ring gear bolts, which made the seal evaluation much easier.)

Photos:
New seal box with the old hollow-back, single-lip seal #15004:

New fully cased double-lip seal, #410059:

Profile of the new double-lip seal:

 

[hartmandm]

Kevin,

Really good stuff. I am filing this info away. I have my rear axle on my to-do list - ring gear bolts, seals, etc. It should have all the original parts still and the resulting issues.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[puff4]

Glad it might help, Mike. If you get a chance, please post a photo of your old seal when you get around to doing the job. I’d like to ensure that the 15004 is truly the original. I believe it is, but it would be good to confirm it.

 

[puff4]

So, I’ve communicated with Rick at Sunbeam Specialties, and he tells me that he’s already supplying this better two-lip, fully cased seal, Timken #410059, for use as Tiger rear transmission seals. He will now start supplying that improved seal for the pinions on later Series V Alpines (after B39513609) where the outer seal diameter is 2-3/8”. He notes, however, that he doesn’t sell many of these late pinion seals, as so few cars had the smaller seal.

The earlier Series V Alpines, up to B39513608, use a larger 2-9/16” seal (R5220439) and it is a two lip seal, which Rick already supplies.

 

[hartmandm]

Kevin,

I have an earlier series V axle. I take your post as indicating the stock pinion seal on the earlier series V axle was already a two lip seal.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[puff4]

Well, Mike, I don't know what the original was - I suspect it was a single lip seal - but the replacement that Rick is selling is a double-lip. But the whole seal on the earlier cars is larger than the late Series V cars.

 

[bernd_st]

Really good advice. Appreciate it. Was looking for a good pinion seal for a Tiger axle some time before but not much came up except the usual Dana axle stuff. We have several cases where club members are suffering from pinion oil dripping -even after exchanging with a normal seal. Timken stuff is not that easy to get over here so we'll start searching accordingly...

 

[puff4]

Don’t know if you have them in Germany, but near me we have a shop that does nothing but bearings, belts, drives and seals - they supply industrial firms in the area. They have a huge selection and can cross-over to many brands. I took the original seal there and they did the research to help me find this better alternative.

Frank Callahan Co. Inc.
https://g.co/kgs/eFdW8Q

 

[bernd_st]

Several findings:
- Yes the double lip Timken 410059 does fit the Tiger Toploader transmission rear. But it doesn't have the felt strip which the original seal had ( difficult to find nowadays):



The big & small size Alpine pinion seals in comparison ( different designs):

 

[puff4]

Thanks for checking on all this.

I think the felt strip was on the single-lip seal, correct? If so, the second lip should fulfill the purpose of the original felt seal in terms of keeping road grime out of the primary lip seal.

 

[bernd_st]

I may be wrong but the original Tiger seal looks like a double lip with felt . Need to check it again. They are terrible to remove . Ask me how I know

 

[bernd_st]

Appearantly it was only a single lip design as the next close up with more light reveals ( the secondary rubber ring just looks like holding the felt in place):



From the back side ( you may recognize my home made "puller"):