MTFCA Forum

My T is having problems stopping and staying stopped when starting it with the brake on. I pulled the drums off, and the pads are soaked with grease, and there is grease everywhere. Is this normal? On modern cars there is an oil seal, but I don't see anything. Please let me know if I am missing something, pictures attached. Also, do I replace the pads, or should they work with oil on them, todays would need replaced. Thanks for helping with a stupid question. R/Jim

Gear lube in rear axle over full? To agressive with grease cups? My 26 runabout pickup was like that. I could get no speed and had to use low peddle on a slight hill. I soaked and scrubbed in gas and washed with Dawn dish soap and scrubbed some more. I am still using them after a rear axle rebuild and new seals.

If it were mine i would definitely replace the shoes, they're not that expensive. As far as it being normal, for a Model T, the answer is yes if the seals let go and its not serviced on a regular basis. There is a new neoprene oil seal the vendors sell that is very good at preventing oil migrating from the Diff into the bearings. And an outer seal is also used to seal in the bearing grease. Hope this helps.

Show us a photo of your backing plate. There should an outside seal. Do you know if it has inner seals behind the outer roller bearing? have you checked the lube level in the center section? If you have all the seals in place and lube level is were it should be, you may be putting too much grease into the outer bearings. Maybe post a photo of your center section showing the filler hole. The filler holes was in two different places and how full it should be depends on which type you have. (well the lube level will be the same, but checking is different)

Dallas and Mark make great points about over filling the diff. I made a gauge out of some welding rod that i measured and bent to be just slightly lower than the bottom of the axle tube. Others may measure differently, but it works for me.

Have the same problem. Oil and grease coming out of the wheel drum. but this is what I found. Seal failure. Rear driver side only. Just got the car so I don't know what caused it, bearings OK, sleeve OK. Seams like the axle shaft may have to much play. The metal part of the seal has been wallowed out.
Sorry to but in.

Quick shout to Steve

the metal part is not wallowed out, but it has come delaminated from the seal

You have a 26/27 large drum rear axle in your car. As long as the lining is not worn out, you can easily clean the shoes with brake cleaner and reuse the old lining. They make inner seals that you install inside the axle housings beind the out roller bearing sleeve. When you install the new seals, make sure to thoughly clean the inside of the housing with brake or carb cleaner and install the seals after applying a bead of permatex gasket maker in the green tube which is formulated for use with gear oil. The other stuff won't work. The origional style felts are more than adequate for the outer seals. While you have it all apart you may want to thoughly inspect the bearings and sleeves to make sure they're in good shape. If the rear axle has not been rebuilt or you're not sure if it has been, it would be wise to look into that at some point.

Stephen

Thanks all, here is what I found when looking.. There is no outer seal in the drum area, and the inner seal seems ok. I will dig in and see what is happening, looks like a rebuild of the axel is in store for me, Thanks all. R/Jim

Also It has a Rucksell in it, if that makes any difference. R/Jim

Jim

take a look at Steve's photo...
are you saying that there is no metal cover and felt seal with shield there? I find that very hard to believe, as this is what retains the bearing. Additionally, there should be a felt seal on the drum as well. 99% of the time, this seal is missing.

What is a cruiser? I've heard of roadsters, tourings, speedsters, and TT trucks, but never a cruiser!