Trans Input Shaft Seal

[squirebill]

Anybody ever done anything about the oil leak at the transmission input shaft. I'm working on the floor shift 3 speed from '49 B1B pick-up. There is no seal between the o.d. of the input shaft/drive pinion and the i.d. of the sleeve of the drive pinion bearing retainer. I measured up the od and id and found a double lip seal on Ebay for $3.00. It installed nicely. I am looking for views, pro or con, about doing this mod. Only thing I can figure is this leak was designed in to allow some oil to lube the splines of the clutch disc and shaft. I lubed mine with a swipe of lithium grease. Any thoughts?

[Dodgeb4ya]

I have never had a leak issue with any of my 1946-52 Mopars. Does the input shaft where you put the seal have a micro polished area so the seal won't get torn up? The seal won't hurt anything if it works, thats for sure!

[P15-D24]

Never seen this problem either. Too much lube in the tranny? 

[squirebill]

Been a long time (late '60s)but I think I had the leak in my '50 Plymouth. After I reassembled the trans for the B1B recently,I had it tipped forward sitting on the bench and when I got back to it, it had leaked oil onto the work bench. It wasn't tipped all that far forward and the oil fill level was at the proper height when I left it. Pulled the bearing retainer, polished the trans shaft with speed cloth, got the seal and reassembled. In my P15-P25 shop manual it addresses this problem under "Leakage" in the Transmission section and even has a note in a box warning not to confuse this leak with a rear main seal leak. When my truck is not in use it is parked on a slight down-hill grade so thought it would be a good idea to try to eliminate the leak.

[suntennis]

On my 52 car, the casting that is on the front face of the transmission does not have any seal but  one side is machined so as to allow any oil in the front side of the case to drain back into the tranmission case. If this casting is installed up side down, oil will not drain back into the case. I found oil leaking  out of the front face of my transmission case and discovered that the leak was where the shaft for the cluster gear is located. My fix for this was to put some sealant about this opening but someone else covered this area with a freeze plug type of cover.

[Niel Hoback]

  Between the input shaft bearing retainer and the transmission case is a paper gasket, 601130 that is .o11 thick. There are three bolts holding the retainer on so that te drain hole will align with the drain in the housing.

  Between the tnasmission case and the bell housing is a paper gasket, 852623, that seals all of the holes in the front of the case so that you don't have to seal shaft hole.

[_shel_ny]

hole that is not sealed

[Niel Hoback]

  The case to bell housing gasket is the size of the entire front of the case sealing all the holes.

[squirebill]

Guys....I hear what your saying and agree. The leakage point I'm talking about is where the splines of the input shaft come out of the pipe section at the front of the bearing retainer. Oil from the transmission can get into the cavity within the bearing retainer and as said drain back into the trans by the drain hole mentioned above. However, if the trans is tipped forward a bit(I don't know what angle but not too severe)the oil can run through the bearing retainer and out of the front tube section of the bearing retainer by the splines of the input shaft. My 3 speed truck transmission looks a lot different than the picture shown above. The o.d. of the splined shaft is 1" and the i.d. of the tube section of the bearing retainer is 1-3/8". So I could fit a lip seal between the two. Doesn't look like the car transmission has enough room for a lip seal.

[Dodgeb4ya]

Remember this is a truck transmission. It does not need that Bell Housing to trans gasket-no open holes.

If the wrong unshielded input shaft bearing is used it will leak out the input shaft on an incline.

Bob

Edited July 18, 2013 by Dodgeb4ya

[squirebill]

So there you have it. My transmission has an unshielded input shaft bearing. Saw it very clearly as I was freeing up the transmission after it sitting for almost 40 years. The seal on the shaft seems to be working well and considering the amount of driving I intend to do will leave it as is rather than replacing the bearing. Once again Dodgeb4ya, thanks for your input. Seems as though my B1B saw a lot of parts being changed out and maybe not always the correct ones. I bought it in 1972 and it was my daily driver for a few years, so it worked OK as it was. I am the "I" owner on the title with "A" being the first owner so that puts me as the 9th owner. Plugging away on it. Still have the rear axle and brakes to go through. Wonder what surprises are in store. Thinking about calling the truck "RnR" which would stand for "Revived, not Restored"

[Don Coatney]

Shielded bearing or sealed bearing? There is a difference. Rubber seal, metal shield. Then of course there is double shield and double seal.

[Dodgeb4ya]

It's a single metal inner shielded bearing-no rubber/plastic shield.  It's getting kinda hard to find the exact correct bearings today for some of our old iron. The younger counter help at the Seattle industrial "McGuire" bearing supply gal was trying to force/push a Turkish unshielded bearing on me for a M-6 I was rebuilding a year ago. She said that's all they had. I raised my voice a little bit to an older gentleman in the back-he asked what I wanted. He thought for a minute and yelled back to the gal a number and BINGO- a nice USA Federal bearing complete with the inner metal shield! Why can't the smarter more knowledgeable counter people stay up front at the counters now days? Sorry-Just ranting now  Bob

[Niel Hoback]

Clearly, I know nothing about truck transmissions. Maybe I should visit the truck side just for educational purposes.