Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi guys, I've been searching the manuals for a decent view of the tail end of a 1098 gearbox, the problem is--it's leaking from this point, now I know there is a felt seal in the tin cover cap but need to know if there is any other form of oil retainer there before I take it apart?

No, just the tin cap with the felt inside. Simply open out the crimp and it comes off. The seal can be wrecked by careless fitting of the prop shaft - make sure that it's fed in carefully when you refit it.

Thanx for the info

No, just the tin cap with the felt inside.

?? Was that on a very early gearbox? The 1098 is not like that.

The felt washer is just a dust protector. Inside the steel cap is a radial lip seal with additional backup spring
The front of the propshaft has a long taper so it is impossible to damage the seal on assembly.
Opening up the crimp is one way to do it but as it is only crimped into a cutaway ring you have little to loose by grinding away the crimped part.

Lip seals will wear over their lifetime and therefore become more leaky when they are old, however it is worth to make sure that the plain bearing (plain bush) in the back of the box isn't excessively worn. A worn bush will give runoutr on the propshaft which will just get worse until the vibrations do some damage or the leakage gets unbearable (lipseals don't work efficiently with runout - especially when they are cold)

Must say It seemed a lot to ask of just a felt seal.