MTFCA Forum

Climb under the T this afternoon to tighten a nut holding the muffler to the frame that had come loose and was rattling. Found this mess. is this normal?

Actually, it's better than normal.

I have seen worse. There is no seal in that area so when grease gets mixed with oil from the output shaft and warm, it just kinda finds it way out. You would too if you were being slung around at speed.

Looks like your solution is the same as mine. Cardboard!

I would only be worried if you didn’t see any grease in that area.

That's good! You are getting enough grease to the joint. If you don't like the way it looks wipe it off. You will need to wipe often though. I always put a drip pan under the rear part of the engine and transmission to catch some of the oil and grease.

I don't know about the gaskets in your ball joint but some people put two. One between the ball joint and the hogs head and another between the ball joint and the cover. You should only have one gasket. The one between the hogs head and the ball joint. If you use the second one, it will push your cover too far back causing more oil and grease to leak out.
Norm

Thanks everyone. Feeling better about it. The rest of the motor seem pretty drip free.

Neil, one thing you should definitely do is safety wire those two lower bolts on the U-joint ball cap.

All normal T's do that!

Thanks for reminding me what it looks like. I try not to look at mine. Sometimes engine oil mixes in with the grease. A friend has a theory that Henry designed it so the engine oil would find it's way down the torque tube and lubricate the differential. Amusing but if it weren't for the grease the oil would likely come out around the ball joint.
Rich

Your T is rustproofing its undercarriage.

I hope that isn't graphite grease I'm looking at!

No it isn’t.

My 26 rpu does it and I wipe it off when I change the oil. No problems yet.