TCS Rear Hub Oil Seals

[Dilkris]

Can some body please tell me whether the oil seals (dust/muck seals) mounted on the inboard side of the TCS rear hubs are 62x30x10 or
62x30x7 - (I've just completely reassembled both rear corners with 10's and I have a horrible feeling they are wrong....    ) I just need confirmation before I take them apart 


 

[SwiftDB4]

If the axles will turn freely in the hub carriers I wouldn't worry about it. Actually I've run mine without those seals. If the inner bearing is sealed are they necessary? I think early S1's used unsealed inner bearings and they were necessary, but after that Lotus just kept them anyway.

[jbcollier]

There were no seals originally.  Lotus specified double sealed bearings and that was it.  Their first kick at the can of solving the rear hub issue was to add a seal and a slinger.  Neither made any difference.  What does help is fitting bearings without seals as they have a larger face on the inner race for the spacer to butt against.  This helps reduce the real issue which is fretting of the spacer against the too thin inner face of the bearing.

All of which does not help with regard to seal width, sorry.

[Dilkris]

Thankyou SwiftDB4 - the issue is they turn freely, they drag and it appears that the "seal slinger" for want of a better word (ie those pressed steel washers/collars that fit up against the rear of the stub axle yoke) - see diagram I posted - appear to rubbing on the outer face of the seal itself.
Must admit I'm tempted to leave it and just let the face of the seal in question wear away.... or remove the pressed steel slingers - but that of course involves removing the stub axle from the housing.... which atm would be like walking in sand. ..   
JB - I hear you - I rather think the puller/extractor I made for pulling the stub axles through the housings, (which worked great), is going to be used in the "extraction" mode sooner than later. 
Think I'll end up pulling the stub axels and changing to 7mm AND maybe remove the slingers.         

[Dilkris]

Well - I got to the bottom of this issue - I ended up pulling the housings and inspected what was going on.
The issue was simple - the inboard oil seals are not 62x30x10 AND neither should they be 62x30x7.
They are actually 62 x 35 x 10 or 7 ..... 
Whilst the recess will just accommodate a 10 mm seal - I'm going to go with 7mm and fit flush - the slinger can than push the seal back to where it sits best. 
Thread closed.