My 1914 Touring has always leaked some oil at the rear of the transmission in the area of the U-joint. The leak was not bad and I figured it was to be expected with a 95-year-old T. After driving the car around the block today I noticed a significant puddle of oil under the U-joint area. It was much, much worse than usual. I wiped the oil off, started the car for a minute, then shut it down to see exactly what was leaking. It is leaking from the ball shaped piece enclosing the U-joint at the rear of the U-joint. What could have caused the leak to get instaneously worse? Can it be fixed without removing the engine or rear end? Any suggestions or help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Just keep an eye on it: when there's no puddle, it's time to add oil.

rdr

Don, Make sure there is no gasket on that rear cover, there should only be a gasket between the ball cap and transmission. Have fun, Keith B

Don,
Oil will come out of the ball joint from two places, the gap between the 4th main and the transmission tail shaft, and/or the felt seal stuffed into the square u-joint hole in the trans tail shaft. Both are easy to fix but require pulling the engine and drive shaft apart. Depending on the puddle under your T, I would not be in a hurry to fix it, but if it looks like your T is bleeding to death and you have to ad oil after every drive, I would say it should be looked at. A sloppy 4th main can lead to 2nd main bearing wear and worst case a crankshaft failure

Thanks for the help! I'll watch the leak and keep going unless it is "bleeding". Also, I know what I'll be doing this winter.
-Don-

Jeff - When you wrote above "the felt seal stuffed into the square u-joint hole in the trans tail shaft", isn't this where the transmission driving plate shaft plug, part #3324B in Lang's catalog, goes? I was not aware of a felt seal stuffed in this area also. Am I just ignorant on this, or could you please provide more information on this felt seal.

Thanks for your help on this.

Fordially, Keith Gumbinger

Kieth,
I may have had it wrong, the "felt seal" may in fact be the metal plug.

Have you recently added oil to the engine? If you fill it too full oil will leak out. The oil should not be above the top petcock. When you check the oil, run a piece of wire into the top petcock to remove any sludge that might be clogging it. Fill until the oil runs out and stop. If the oil level is not your problem, you might have excess wear in the 4th main. To fix that you would need to remove either the engine or the rear end.
Norm