Cat-426 brake adjust & oil seal

[towbar]

greetings

My Cat-426 is the first batch (made in England, #7bc01181) with this huge Ford axle. It's TWICE now that a *pro* has changed the seals, the last one just 6 months ago but the right seal is leaking again. Looks like I'll have to do it myself although at my age I'm not all that keen on it. Has anyone done this, can you share some wisdom? I've heard that adhesives, nuclear-reactor level cleanliness, plus (my hunch) shaft polishing to a mirror sheen might be advised. I have the cabin off right now for a major so timing should work out.

 

[heymccall]

I'm a little slow, but, if the rod boot is leaking, it's because the oil level in the axle is too high.

 

[towbar]

I can't check the level reliably now cause the rig is parked nose-down, but if that's the case then how come only the right one is leaking? That said, it did surprise me a bit, seeing that it wasn't leaking before I took the cabin off. Is the purpose of these seals to keep dirt out or oil in? Thanks for chiming in.

 

[edgephoto]

Damn you are really stripping that one down. I have been working on mine but did not take the cabin off like you did.

When you say axle seal I was thinking the seal on the axle shafts. You picture is where the brake levers go into the axle. I have had mine off. They are more of a boot than they are a seal. I would expect if oil was sitting against them for a period of time they would seep.

 

[towbar]

The floor was rotten, the heater was sucking exhaust into the cabin, in addition to entrance maintenance I need the thing to move my snow-blower in the winter. Two or three years from now it would be too big a job for me, so I decided to get an early start and do it this summer. I had no clue where to begin and I don't think there was a single bolt that I didn't have to cut ....but at last it's starting the journey home now

I don't know where axle-seal leaks would come out, but the last mechanic rolled some tape tightly around the ends of both, presumably to block some dripping (I won't touch those this time around).