Loop rear drive leak question

[bigbikerrick]

Hi Folks, I took my 73 eldo out for a highway ride of about 50 miles, a couple of days ago, and when I got home I noticed a mess of gear oil from what seems to be the little sump gasket on the bottom. I checked the bolts, and none were loose. I know I replaced that gasket a couple of years ago. What I am wondering is if the inner seal may be the culprit. I have replaced the "Big" seal, with a Viton one a few years ago.When the big one leaked, the oil was all around the housing/ wheel. This seems more towards the bottom. Is there a weep hole, where oil comes out if that inner seal leaks? I vaguely remember something, to that effect, to protect the brake shoes from oil damage.
  If it makes any difference, my bike has an 850 T rear cush drive, and 2LS brake mod, that I did years ago.
thanks alot
Rick Duarte

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Hi Folks, I took my 73 eldo out for a highway ride of about 50 miles, a couple of days ago, and when I got home I noticed a mess of gear oil from what seems to be the little sump gasket on the bottom. I checked the bolts, and none were loose. I know I replaced that gasket a couple of years ago. What I am wondering is if the inner seal may be the culprit. I have replaced the "Big" seal, with a Viton one a few years ago.When the big one leaked, the oil was all around the housing/ wheel. This seems more towards the bottom. Is there a weep hole, where oil comes out if that inner seal leaks? I vaguely remember something, to that effect, to protect the brake shoes from oil damage.
  If it makes any difference, my bike has an 850 T rear cush drive, and 2LS brake mod, that I did years ago.
thanks alot
Rick Duarte

No weep hole. It can pool around the axle spacer and make it look like the axle is leaking.  Most of the time, it runs down across the drive splines and either gets flung off the same as when the big seal leaks, or it dribbles down over the side of the drive towards the wheel and makes it look like the sump is leaking.

Not that hard to replace the small seal - simply gut the housing, heat it (Arizona sun might do the trick  ) and the roller bearing's outer race will drop out allowing access to the seal.

[bigbikerrick]

Thank you, Charlie. I am pretty sure its the inner seal, by what you describe. I will proceed to replace it as soon as I can get the parts. I think if it were the sump gasket, it would leak while parked, and this leak happened mostly when run at high speeds.
Rick

[pehayes]

  If it makes any difference, my bike has an 850 T rear cush drive, and 2LS brake mod, that I did years ago.
thanks alot
Rick Duarte

That wouldn't make any difference for the leak issue.
However, I'm curious about your mod.  Do you now have two leading shoes in the rear brake?  Bad juju.  Makes for better forward braking, but also means you have almost zero backward rolling braking.  This might work OK for a bike with a front disc brake, but not for a bike with drum front brake that already has two leading shoes.  Would like more comment and input.

Patrick Hayes
Fremont CA