sexton Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Hi, the seat for the lip seal shown in yellow below has a recess cut into the bore and the shoulder it sits against. See photo. This allows oil or air to bypass the seal. I suspect it's for equalizing pressure in the hub and outer tracta joint as I don't see the point of installing a seal and then allowing oil to bypass it. So I plan on installing the recess at the 12 o'clock position. Can anyone confirm? By the way, I also plan on installing the lip the opposite way round to what the drawing shows as I have had bad experiences with the little coil spring around the lip seal getting knocked out of its recess when installing the shaft through the seal from the direction shown. What do you think? Malcolm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Farrant Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Hi Malcolm, Ferret hubs are familiar territory for me having rebuilt heaps of these in Workshops over the years. Firstly the edge of the flange on the challis is stamped T or TOP to denote the correct position. The groove is to allow the hub and outer tracta housing to breath via the bevel box. Regarding the oil seal, they only seal one way and it should be fitted as shown in the drawing. A tip to stop the garter spring coming out is to pack the back of the seal with a stiff grease before fitting. The seal is to stop inner tracta/bevel box oil from migrating to the hub, which is slightly 'downhill'. Anyone having oil migration should check the challis is positioned correctly and that breather on bevel box is working, also if seal is damaged or fitted wrong way around. regards, Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sexton Posted September 8, 2016 Author Share Posted September 8, 2016 Fantastic information! Thanks, Richard. I found the "TOP" stamp on the housing. Malcolm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sexton Posted September 9, 2016 Author Share Posted September 9, 2016 Richard, Since I had a good spare bevel box (albeit the wrong hand), I replaced the bevel and pinion gears in the damaged bevel box. I crossed my fingers and reused the gear-setting shims under the bevel gear bearing cone installed in the casing and the shims between the pinion bearing housing and the casing. I figured the machining discrepancies between bevel boxes were more likely due to casing machining than the internal parts. Anyway, it worked out, I got pretty good tooth contact pattern on final assembly. But what if I was starting out from scratch? Obviously, few people have the two very sophisticated tools listed in the manual for setting up backlash and tooth meshing. Are these what you used these when you were rebuilding bevel boxes? With the design of the bevel box, it just seems so laborious to set up the gears without these tools. Malcolm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Farrant Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 Richard, Since I had a good spare bevel box (albeit the wrong hand), I replaced the bevel and pinion gears in the damaged bevel box. I crossed my fingers and reused the gear-setting shims under the bevel gear bearing cone installed in the casing and the shims between the pinion bearing housing and the casing. I figured the machining discrepancies between bevel boxes were more likely due to casing machining than the internal parts. Anyway, it worked out, I got pretty good tooth contact pattern on final assembly. But what if I was starting out from scratch? Obviously, few people have the two very sophisticated tools listed in the manual for setting up backlash and tooth meshing. Are these what you used these when you were rebuilding bevel boxes? With the design of the bevel box, it just seems so laborious to set up the gears without these tools. Malcolm Hi Malcolm, We did not rebuild bevel boxes, another workshop did them. If a bevel box was u/s then a replacement was demanded and old one went back for reconditioning. Having rebuilt bevel drives on all manner of vehicles over the years, you come up against the 'special tools required' in the manuals but so long as you have shims (if reqd.) and a bit of patience they are a satisfying task to do without these tools, you just have to find a starting point to work from. One thing I notice is you were using grease to check footprint of mesh, this is not very accurate, the best and proper way is to use Engineers Blue, a lot less messy too! regards, Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HotelJuliet Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 Can you clarify something for me please. Since owning my Ferret (over a year ago), I have filled the hub up to the 10 o'clock / 2 o'clock position, believing this finds its way all through the assembly to the bevel boxes? This thread suggests not, given the seal Malcolm is referring to is there to prevent the oil flowing. Nothing's gone bang yet. I did fill the left front bevel box directly once, given it's the only one that's accessible, but the others are well buried. If the hub filler isn't sufficient for the whole assembly, what other filler points do owners use? In the manual there seem to be a few of them in each assembly, but all hidden to some extent - nothing as readily accessible as the hub filler. Thanks, Howard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Farrant Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 Can you clarify something for me please. Since owning my Ferret (over a year ago), I have filled the hub up to the 10 o'clock / 2 o'clock position, believing this finds its way all through the assembly to the bevel boxes? This thread suggests not, given the seal Malcolm is referring to is there to prevent the oil flowing. Nothing's gone bang yet. I did fill the left front bevel box directly once, given it's the only one that's accessible, but the others are well buried. If the hub filler isn't sufficient for the whole assembly, what other filler points do owners use? In the manual there seem to be a few of them in each assembly, but all hidden to some extent - nothing as readily accessible as the hub filler. Thanks, Howard Hi Howard, The levels for each of the four wheel stations consist of three separate filling/level points; Hub epicyclic, as you say 10 to 2 level Outer tracta housing (behind brake plate, filler on the top and level plugs on sides) Inner tracta and bevel box (this is a level / filler which is accessed through the suspension bracket, a plug of I think, 15/16" A/F is screwed in an extension tube and thus into side of bevel box, right in close to hull. This needs filling with a pump with a long thin tube that will pass right up the tube to allow air to escape as you fill.) The bevel box and inner tracta oil is separate to outer tracta. Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HotelJuliet Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 Thanks Richard - that's clearly more than I've been doing. I think I might have been lucky so far, but will fill up through the other filler points before driving it again. When the rain stops I'll go and take a look. Howard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Farrant Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 Thanks Richard - that's clearly more than I've been doing. I think I might have been lucky so far, but will fill up through the other filler points before driving it again. When the rain stops I'll go and take a look. Howard No problem! Just a tip, on front bevel box/inner tracta plugs, you need to move steering to full lock either way to access. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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