Hub leaking grease out the back

[Neil Haughey]

An item on my list to sort, my front left hub has a slight grease leak out the back of the hub. Anyone else seen this before? and what/how is the fix?

Cheers
Neil

 

[Jonny944CS]

There is a shaft seal (# 9), pressed into the inner face of the Aluminium hub (#8), and running on the machined face of the stub axle (#16).
I would be inspecting this first.

Note: Pre 85.5 hub assembly shown (late cars have the same basic assembly structure)

- If you go to replace it, check for evidence of a groove worn into the stub axle running surface - It should be possible to re-fit the seal in a slightly different position to allow it to run on a fresh section.
- 60 grams of grease is recommended
- Also make sure the seal contact face is well lubricated when re-fitting

You may also want to consider special high(er) temp grease.

 

[Neil Haughey]

Nice one mate cheers.

 

[bmnelsc]

+1 for Jonny but I would advise replacing the seal regardless of apparent condition. It is unlikely you will get the old seal out undamaged anyway. As you have to pull everything apart to get to it, you should be cleaning and inspecting your wheel bearings (inner and outer) and packing with fresh grease while you are at it. Do the other side also - everything is better in pairs....

Cleaning, inspecting and repacking with fresh grease and new seals used to be a regular service item back in the old days of drum brakes (removing the brake drums to replace break shoes usually exposed all these components). With disk brakes it is easy to service pads, and in the case of Porsche, rotors without removing the hub and therefore these bearings and seals are often ignored until something happens (seals leak, growling or scraping noises, excessive play in the wheel hubs or worse of all - complete failure with seized hubs or wheels leaving the car [])