Morris Minor Owners Club

when i took the brake drum off i noticed some gear oil weaping out where the half shaft comes out.today i undid the screw that keeps the halfshaft secure and gently pulled it towards me. i noticed that there is not a paper gasket where one should be.i put spme gasket goo around the two metal surfaces,it held out for 5 hours,it weaping slightly.what i want to know is does the halfshaft just pull out,and does it only go back in one way,when i get a gasket to go where it should be,thanks

Yes, the halfshaft just pulls out once you've removed the retaining screw. Putting it back in involves a bit of waggling around and turning to get the end into the diff. If you make your own gaskets use a fairly thick paper and I would use blue Hylomar on both sides of the paper as well, after washing off any traces of oil from the mating surfaces. Belt and braces - you don't want oil leaking out onto your brakes.

No need for any gasket sealer, just a new gasket and rubber ring
thats all i do and have had no problems

I did have problems until I redid them with gasket sealant too. Hence why I suggested it. It won't harm anything to use it and might save you a set of brake shoes and a lot of needless work.

Later models had the rubber ring to cure the problem. Check the diff is not overfull - and check the breather on top is clear.

The correct half shaft gaskets have a specific thickness to ensure that the outer of the wheel bearing is clamped securely. You should not
need any gasket goo. The half shafts do not actually run tight in the axle
bearings so, when you are feeding the shaft back in you have to slightly
tilt it so that the splines lift in order to re engage with the diff.

I have left out the gasket and rely only on the O ring (it works ) as I found that the gasket in the bearing assembly was compressed by the bearing and allowed it to move under load so much so that you would have thought the bearing outer was chrome plated where it had moved about.

The correct thickness of gasket is supposed to press on the outer ring of the bearing. Should the bearing develop any tendency to 'drag'
or seize up which could result in it turning in the hub then there is less restraint than 'as designed' to prevent this.
The outer of the bearing should protrude by 2 thou" to enable it to be clamped.

Dont panic when you cant get the shafts back in. You'll find they need wobbling up and down and maybe turning to 'engage' in the splines, as mentioned above.
You'll feel this tolerance when you pull them out - they'll noticably drop at the diff end when you start removing them.

I use a hub cap to collect stray tricles whilst doing this job, has the added benefit of rustproofing the inside.

ive done the job but they did not send me an oil ring.it came off when i pulled the half shaft out.so i carefully cleaned off any crud then put it back in and smeared it with grease,an old farm bodge,then put the new gasket on wait and see what happens .if it does not work ill get all the gear and try again.