Rear axle seals

[Jim in PA]

Once again I need advice...
Now that the '66 SV is back on the road and running well enough for now I've noticed a small leak of rear axle lube.
I get a drop of axle lube on the back of the right brake backing plate at the point where the backing plate and the rear axle housing meet.
This past weekend I crawled under the car and scrubbed the rear axle using Gunk Engine Brite then Greased Lightning. It's very clean now but what a messy task! I cleaned the breather cap as well as I could using a bent paper clip and a wire brush.
I drained and refilled the rear axle with Castrol 80-90W gear lube. I will keep an eye on the leak and see how many drops leak out in how many days/ hours etc...it's a very slow leak from what I can see.
If I am going to replace the rear seals I may as well replace bearings too right? (both sides)
The WSM says I can remove the axle, brakes and backing plate all as one piece, replace the bearing and O ring and reinstall with new gaskets.
Seems straight forward. SS parts listing shows two different gaskets for the axle/ bearing/ backing plate retainer plate. One gasket is 6 per car and the other is 2 per car. Do I get the 6 or the 2? Or do I get the 6 and the 2?
There are no notes stating which SN car uses which gasket(s).
I'll include a new pinion seal too but should I go the whole distance and buy ring gear bolts and carrier gaskets? If I opt for replacing the ring gear bolts I may buy a 3.70 gear set too...what should I expect in doing that? Other than sending it out to a differential specialist.
All kinds of things to think about for a drop or two of oil leaking...sheesh...
Maybe I'll just reach behind the backing plate every few days and wipe it's chin and go about my life. But then I can't leave well enough alone.
Your feedback and insight is greatly appreciated.

 

[todd reid]

Jim,
The rear axle seal on a Series V is built into the wheel bearing, so you have to change the whole thing as a unit. My experience is that they tend to be fussy - I think alot of the spares have been on the shelf for a long time, and seals do not get better with age! If the other side is not leaking, and the bearing is quiet, my advice would be to leave it alone.

 

[mikephillips]

As pointed out the seal is in the bearing. To replace it, while you can pull the hub, axle and backing plate as a unit you will need to remove the hub from the axle. This is due to the fact that there's a bearing locating sleeve on the axle, so the bearing can only go on from the hub end. As for the 2 type of paper gaskets, they're actually shims as well. What you need to do is get a variety of them and then after installing the bearing into the housing, measure the difference in height and use a combination of them to make up the difference when reinstalling the backing plate.

 

[Jim in PA]

Axle seal

Thanks to Mike, Todd and Steve for the PM reply.
I think, to be on the safe side, I'll get all gaskets, bearings, seals, bolts and a new 3.70 ring & pinion gear set and have the whole rear end rebuilt. My life usually takes me down the path of "Oh crap! Look what we have here! Man we're gonna' need more parts!" so... I was hoping I could just pop the axle/bearing and slip on a new O ring.
There's 4x4 shop near here that has a very good reputation for setting up differentials of all kinds. Until I have all parts in hand I'll be wiping the drips from the backing plate.