Rick,
At last, someone is asking about something I've played with on my
Spitfire. I replaced all the U-Joints and the rear oil seal on my
car this summer. At the time all the advice I got was to leave the
tin can at the front of the driveshaft well alone. I have heard it
is not servicable.
As for the gear box leak, replacing the rear oil seal on the back
of the gearbox is really simple once the driveshaft has been removed
(the driveshaft has to be removed to replace it). If my memory
serves me correctly, you should find a large nut at the back end of
the gearbox where the front of the driveshart bolts on. Simply undo
this and you should then be able to prise out the old seal and put
in a new one. The seals are available for a few dollars from all the
major suppliers (Vickie Britt, Moss etc... got mine from Spitbits).
Hope this helps,
Paul
79 Spitfire - pictures at www.scouse.com (site still in the early
stages of construction)
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Reply-To: Rick Gregory <rick_gregory@yahoo.com>
Hello everyone!
Hope everyone has a good thanksgiving!
I'm working on my '77 spitfire 1500. I noticed the rear u-joint has
severe play in it so I removed the driveshaft today to take a better
look. The driveshaft has a rear u-joint which looks to me like a
traditional u-joint like the ones I've worked on in american cars. The
front end of the driveshaft, however, contains an odd cylindrical unit
which looks like two "canisters" pressed together with what I would
GUESS contains some sort of ?slotted? universal joint inside.. I don't
know because I've really never seen one before. It reminds me of a
CV-joint like structure seen on more modern front wheel driveshafts.
Anyway, while the rear joint is really out, this front joint only
contains a very slight "click" when I test it for play?
Should I (and if so how) service this front joint?
I also noticed gear oil over the rear of the gear box, looks like the
seal is leaking? Can I easily replace the seal while I'm at it?
Any input, as always, is much appreciated.
Thanks,
Rick
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