The Buttonwillow CW13 Track day was not without its impact. Brent spotted a small puff of smoke from the rear passenger wheel area in braking zones. After I got home from the road trip and cleaned up the SVE wheels, I noticed the rear passenger wheel was caked with grime and some kind of oil. While swapping the winter wheels on with some new eBay Leao cheap all-season tires, I inspected the area and determined it was indeed a failed seal and not something else like brake fluid. So, I ordered up a new rear axle bearing and seal kit from Rockauto "Speed Shop" and found a couple of good YouTube how to videos.
The process to get to the point where you can remove and replace rear axle bearings and seals is actually quite a bit of work. Unfortunately, I had to remove the new GT500/Boss 302 finned rear diff cover and new gasket (which is reusable) and the new fluid I just put in it. The brakes must be removed entirely because you have to remove the axles themselves obviously. To get the axles out, you have to unbolt the different shaft lock bolt, remove the c clips and then the axles can be slipped out of place.
Here's a look at what I found after removing all the things. You can see the leak path at the bottom of the seal.
Oh yes, this picture reminds me that I had to remove the Maximum Motorsports panhard bar as well to be able to remove the diff cover.
Here's a look at the rear diff with the cover removed. See that bolt head right in the center of the picture? That is the differential shaft lock bolt.
Well, you can see that the bolt sheared in half. Not good!
Here is what came out of the rear diff! haha I was kind of freaking out. I called Pops and he was like, I told you to watch out man! He did warn me. I used my smallest ratchet wrench but it still broke. How did I get it out you ask? Well, I grabbed my drill and the stash of drill bits. I grabbed one of those counter sinking bits for wood working and was going to use it as a center punch. When I hit it with the hammer, I saw it move and spun in the hole. I was shocked! I carefully tapped the bolt at an angle to encourage the rotation and slowly worked the bolt out without damaging the threads. It was legit a miracle!
This shaft lock bolt must break often because they are available at your local O'Reilly or Autozone for $6. They come packaged like this and even have thread locker pre-applied. haha Well, with that disaster averted, I could proceed with buttoning up the rear end of the car.
Here is the bearing race surface right after removal of the bearing and seal using a slide hammer.
After cleaning up the surface with brake cleaner and paper towels I got it to look like this. I did have to use a razor blade to scrape some of the seal material which oozes after getting hot to really seal up.
Here we are with new bearing, seal and lots of brake clean to get the grime off of everything.
I had just above 2 quarters of the Valvoline 75w-90 gear oil that I was able to drain out. I bought another quart of the same oil just in case. I ended up pumping in about 2.5 quarts of oil total until it started to drip out of the OEM fill port.
I went for test drive on my 10 mile loop up to Kaysville and back on the new highway. I inspected after about a mile and didn't see any leaks. I checked again at the 5 mile point and again when I got home and all looks to be good to go. Time will tell!
With the seal replaced, I'm ready to hit the track here in Utah next year. I can't wait!
Next up is to finish off the paint work for the bumpers and fender, which will be dropped off at FRC Customs in Orem on Dec 10th. Once I get those on, I'll be able to reinstall the front lip and Brent's V1 fiberglass canards. I'm eyeing some LED taillights on eBay that will modernize and freshen up the look.
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