Morris Minor Owners Club

After many posts, much head scratching, innumerable gaskets, O rings and oil seals, it seems I've been barking up the wrong tree for some time.

Cleaned and polished the hub sealing face to within and inch (or should that be 4/1000 of an inch ) of its life, put in a new gasket, gasket gunk and put everything back together. Tighten and left for half an hour before returning to take off the wheel and re-tighten everything again.

Oil drip noted already

Rotated hub to check where it was coming from and sort of wish I hadn't.

I know see why I leak oil - there is an eccentric rotation of the hub. At "9 o'clock" everything is snug, but by rotating to "12 o'clock" a gap opens up between the gasket and the sealing faces, about 1mm, which opens and closes during rotation.

Dodgy half shaft ? Issue with my diff ? Just what I didn't need before Christmas

Well -you found it... well done ! Swap the shaft in from the other side - just to see if it's ok with that shaft (don't run it like that) . If not - then the problem is in the hub. Or - is it just wear in the bearing?

Yes,but does it not close up when the wheel is on and fully tightened up,If it was a permanent fault surely you would feel the wobble because the movement would be transfered to the wheel. Support the back end under the axle,start it up and in gear have a look at the wheels,see if you have a wobble (obviously well supported and front chocked). Or fit the wheel nut and see if the gap closes.My ser11 does exactly the same,if I tip it with the wheels off oil gets into the downwards drum,( No O rings on ser 11).

I agree - tighten up the 4 wheel nuts (put them on back to front with a couple of washers) - how does it look now? I suspect the bearing is loose in the hub.

Seasonal festive duties and work getting in the way of Minor surgery, but I'll let you know how things progress.