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MG MGB Technical - Rear Axle Removal 72B (Seal Replacement)

While replacing my emergency brake cable last night, I decided to remove brake drums to determine if wheel cylinders or axle seals were leaking (backing plate on passenger side is caked in grease/dirt).

Wheel cyclinders proved tight, so axle seals are the problem. I proceeded to clean all the brake parts in the meantime and put drums back on for now.

Looking in the manual it appears that I simply remove the cotter pin, then the nut and then use a puller to pull the axle out of the housing.

There doesn't appear to be anything in the drawing to imply the differential end of the axle is held in place by a clip or anything.

So is this correct, after removing the nut I can attach a puller to lug bolts and yank the axles out and replace seal by pressing old ones off and pressing new ones on?

Will it actually be that simple?

Thanks for any assistance.

BobA
R.W Anderson

First question is: which axle do you have? The early "banjo" axle used from 62-67 on roadsters and from 62-65 on GTs. The later roadsters and GTs from 68-80 used a "tubed type" axle. The disassembly of each is a bit different, so we need to know which one you have.
Bob Muenchausen

I think it the axle is original to car, I think it should be the tube type. If I remember correctly the seals are carried in a retaining plate that shares the same 4 mounting bolts as the backing plate. I do not remember if the center hub bolt has to removed if only changing the seals.

I am sure the more experienced will chime in.

Shareef
Shareef Hassan

Before changing the seal, look at the breather pipe, fitted to the top of the left hand side axle tube. If this is blocked up, pressure within the axle will blow oil out through the seals.

Anyway to change,

Remove split-pin from hub nut, undo hub nut (very tight)
Extract hub, needs a puller, or there is some clever trick with long bolts and nuts through the 4 holes in the casing, head against flange, nut against hole where you can push the hub off.

If you are lucky/good you can slide the inner cone off, and lever the old seal out, then carefully refit the new seal, but if you have clumsy stubby fingers like me, you need to remove the brake pipe and handbrake cable, then undo and remove the 4 nuts and bolts holding the backplate on (leave the brake shoes assembled, just take the whole lot off), and the axle end flanges together.

Now slide hammer the halfshaft out, and it will draw out the bearing and the outer half flange with the seal in.
You can likely get just the flange off if you start the bearing moving to open a split between the two halves.

Remove the old seal, and replace with the new, then carefully drive the bearing back in, replace the outer flange, having smeared the face with sealant, and re-assemble.

The hub nut has to be torqued up to 150 lbft, and then more to align a split pin hole. It must clamp the hub solid between the cones, so that there is no play at all in the wheel. (See my thread about rear wheel play from Easter this year)
Martin Layton

Correction, the breather is on the top right tube, close to the diff. (I was lying underneath facing the back!)

The inner end of the halfshaft is just a push fit into the differential. It may take a little jiggling to get it back in if you pull the whole shaft out.
Martin Layton

To replace the oil seal you don't really need to pull the half-shaft as the seal is in the end-cap. However you may need to pull it a little bit to open up a gap between the end cap and casing in order to get a drift in and get the end-cap off the bearing outer. To get that far you will have to have removed the hub and back-plate. The hub can be removed with steel wedges tapped in between the back of the hub and the heads of the back-plate bolts. With the back-plate off you can replace the hub loosely then tap on its back with a mallet to pull the half-shaft enough to lever the end-cap off.
Paul Hunt 2

I did not have to pull the half shaft on my 69 to replace the seal. Once the back plate was removed, the seal is right there. I was able pry the seal out and replace the seal. The only problem that I had was when I put the new seal in, I set it in a little too far. It should be flush with the end of the hub. The axle half shaft is straight inside the hub, so the seal still should be ok. I have about a 1000 miles on it and so far no more leakage.
Bruce Markle

This thread was discussed between 11/05/2007 and 15/05/2007

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