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Drive Axle Hub Inner Seal Leak
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Just the drivers side axle is pulled. That’s the drive axle.
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Don, it is admirable you want to replace something that is not broke, but seal replacement is no assurance it will not leak.
I am either lucky or skilled because I have never had a seal I worked on leak, but I have replaced seals recently replaced by others because the replacement was leaking. In fact when I bought my current coach both drive axle seals had just been replaced and the passenger side had to be redone. It was leaking and only had 700 miles on it.
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If you pull the axle and replace it, torque the bolts to 86 foot pounds. DO NOT USE AN IMPACT! If you ask me how I know this, I will show you a $600 canceled check.
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I’ve got the other side apart now. Today I removed the drive axle hub inner seal on the driver side that’s not leaking. I assumed(no mx records) its as old as the leaky one that I replaced last week on the passenger side. This was probably a bad assumption. The leaky seal that came out last week was a CR Scotseal brand. The seal I removed today was a National brand. Although both seals fit my bus, they look quite a bit different from each other.
In the pics, the seal on the right is my old leaky CR Scotseal brand that I removed last week. I replaced it with an identical seal that I purchased from Prevost, #621069 or CR Scotseal #48690. The seal on the left is the non-leaky National brand that I removed today. The CR seals on the axle housing a little further inboard than the National. I’ve decided to replace the National seal, #B370195V with a National #370195A. The third seal in the pic is another new CR Scotseal that I planned to install in place of the National seal. I’ll keep it as a spare.
Also while replacing the seals, I removed all my wheels from all the axles and:
1) lubed the chassis
2) changed the gear oil in the steer and tag wet hubs
3) lubed the brakes
4) lubed the slack adjusters and made sure they were operating properly
5) cleaned then painted the hub, seal holder, dust cover, and drums.6) cleaned the backside and inside of all the wheels and tires -
For anyone that’s interested? here’s is a pretty good 3 part youtube video series about HOW TO change the drive axle drum brake linings and wheel hub seal after the seal leak has made a big mess. It not exactly the same as a Meritor brake equipped bus, but it will give you an idea of what your up against.
Here’s a link to part1 LINK2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
Don:
Thanks for the post, good stuff. Worked on cars and smaller trucks, interesting to to learn about the bigger stuff. Not sure my old back and bal.. would make it through the repair. Your shop and work is meticulous. Do you hire out LOL.
Chuck
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The battle scars on surface of Dons work table tells us all we need to know. Don’s doing a lot more than watching videos and reading about it. …..said the man while watching videos and reading about it.
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I’d be leery about only pulling one of the two drive axles unless Prevost approves.
If you leave one axle in, it is going to spin the side gears and spider gears in the diff. They are meant to spin but only at a rate equal to the speed *difference* of the two drive tires, eg. while turning. They are not meant to spin at highway speeds for prolonged periods of time. I have never been in the Prevost diff, but the passenger vehicle ones I have worked on simply had thrust washers for the side and spider gears to spin against (not a roller bearing).
There would be no torque/load on the spinning side/spider gears, and it might be fine. You could use the same logic for flat towing any automatic transmission in neutral though… I’m just saying it would bother me and for the effort involved to pull both I would pull both unless Prevost and/or Meritor says otherwise.
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Pulling the driver’s side axle prevents the differential from turning the driveshaft and thus the transmission, but if you have any concerns you have the option of pulling the other axle or if you have someone crazy enough to get under the bus you can drop the driveshaft.
My first bus was towed over 180 miles with one axle pulled and it had no adverse effect on the transmission.
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Recently I was visiting with a friend who was shop foreman, etc for 40 yrs for Trailways and Kerrville Bus Co. He retired in 2000. The question I posed to him was “if I ever need to have my bus towed, should I pull a) one axle? b) both axles? c) or the driveshaft”? He said they would pull BOTH axles unless only towing a short distance(<10 miles), then only pulling one axle is ok. I told him that I made the wooden axle covers. He said they used old axles ends with the shafts cut off.
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Just saying! I don’t believe both axles need to be pulled and both towing companies pulled the drivers side, had the proper cover and no damage was done to any part of the drive train.
We were certainly towed more than 10 miles but likely less than 20.
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Here are new ACTIVE links to the PrevostCar MX & Part manuals:
page 254 of the 466 page mx manual: https://techpub.prevostcar.com/content/media/13219/view
and
page 971 of the 2464 page parts manual: https://techpub.prevostcar.com/content/media/19575/view
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