1940 Dodge pinion oil seal

[Dennis]

We are having trouble installing a new pinion oil seal we purchased from Bernbaum.  The seal listed on the website shows it fits most Chrysler products from 1937 into the 1950s.  We don't have the special Mopar tool and were trying to drive it in with a large socket.  The seal OD looks to be about 0.050 larger than the seat.  Has anyone had experience with this part?

Thanks,

Dennis Smyth

 

[Dodgeb4ya]

Won't fit being .050" oversize.

.005" yes...a snug fit at that.

Jeez you would think AB could sell a correct fitting pinion seal that fits a factory installed rear end.

What model of car is the seal for?

Did your give them the correct model of car and that the rear axle  is as far as you know the original?

Did you remove the old seal..look for the part# on it and search for a replacement seal with that #?

A lot of steps to getting the correct seals it seems.

 

[Dennis]

Couldn't find a number on the original seal. I'm not criticizing AB and I did give the correct part number from their website.  It's possible the rear in our '40 Dodge is not original.  

Want to know if anyone else had a similar problem

[DonaldSmith]

Similar problem?  Oh, boy, ever.  In my humble 'pinion...

My DeSoto Suburban must take some bastard-sized seal. 

 

In 2013, I replaced a leaky seal.  (While at it, I installed a Speedi-Sleeve over the worn pinion shaft, and this has stood the test of time.)  Back in 2013, the seal was too small to fit tightly in the housing, so I filled the perimeter with JB Weld.  This summer I noticed that the seal was leaking again, at the perimeter. 

 

It turns out that the I.D. of the housing is 3-5/32 (3.15625), and steps down smaller past where the seal should go.  My rough measurement was larger, so I got a 3-3/16" (3.18750) seal, which I tried to press in place with the pinion nut, washers, and a block of wood with a large hole in it.  The seal was barely pushed in. and its face was concave.  It did not stay in place very long.  

 

I got another seal, and some huge washers.  I ground down the first washer to a diameter somewhat under the O.D. of the seal.  I drove this washer sandwich with the pinion nut, and pushed this seal further (farther) into the housing than the last seal.  The seal is not flush, but farther in that the last one.  Again, the face is concave. 

("Farther" involves distance; "further" involves degree.  In this case, take your pick.) 

 

I have not found a seal with a 3-5/32" O.D., so if this latest seal fails, I will try pushing home another oversize seal, with a larger washer. 

 

(Another thread discussed my agony in refilling the pumpkin with gear oil, before I bought the hand pump that fits the gear oil bottle.) 

[Dodgeb4ya]

With to OD, ID and width plus what the seal is used for any Bearing Supply company with a knowledgeable sales person can supply almost any seal.

Crossing old #'s to new is some what chancy these days.

Parts must be very accurately measured for a bearing company to get the right seal. No tape measure!

The old factory design leather seals are a very tight fit over a speedi-sleeve and will fail.

The Suburban rear pinion seal should be same as a Chrysler Traveler using a factory MoPar # 619129 leather seal with a outer diameter of 3.172".

This seal is for the heavy chassis 7 passenger six cylinder cars...1940 thru 1950.

Chrysler Corp used two rear pinion seals ...the smaller one for all Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto and Chryler std six cylinder cars...

Then a larger seal for the large heavy chassis seven passenger and Chrysler eight cylinder cars...except limousine's and Plymouths.

When installing speedi-sleeves and using original leather seals as already mentioned they will not fit correctly over the sleeve...leather won't "give" enough and the seal will burn up.

Speedi-sleeves increase the shaft diameter .020".

The speedi-sleeve manufacturer states to use the original manufacturers size seal for the application!

Now days most all high speed seals are rubber. They will easily fit over the slightly larger speedi-sleeved shaft, yoke etc.

 

[DonaldSmith]

Thanks for the info. 

[Dennis]

We found a seal on Ebay.  It is a TOSTEL seal T5851.  The OD is 3.110.  My son installed it yesterday.  No more leaks.

Thanks to all who replied.

Dennis

[Cannuck]

I also had trouble with my pinion seal from Bernbaum . Someone on the forum said to try the Napa seal 18880  it worked no leaks since  my car is a48 plodge'

[Sniper]

This site has a pretty good cross reference.  Every one I have checked looks correct, but I have not checked all of the lol.  BTW, that T5851 seal crosses to a NAPA 18880, lol.

 

https://www.yoyopart.com/oem/10716975/trostel-t5851.html

 

Dug out my parts book and the Chrysler PN specified for the OP's vehicle, assuming original axle here, is 1271104.  Which crosses to both the Tostel and Napa numbers.  Not sure what AB is doing here.  When I punch in the Chrysler PN into the yoyoparts search a lot of cross references come up.

 

http://www.kakapart.com/oem/partscrossinterchange/chrysler-1271104.html

 

If you go that route you can use Rock Auto's parts search site to see what's there and if you punch in the 18880 number in the parts search it comes up with an SKF seal that shows the dimensions.  Which you can use as a sanity check if you measure out the old one.

Edited September 22, 2021 by Sniper
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