Drive axle flange and seal

Op-Ivy · Post by **Op-Ivy** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 1:18 am

My manual transmission is leaking oil at the flange/flange seal. But there is also some play in the axle. It is able to move up and down (opposed to in and out of the transmission).

Is a small amount of play normal? Would this hint that it may be the flange itself and not the flange seal?

bscutt · Post by **bscutt** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:59 am

Some radial play is probably ok. Replacing the seal on the car is tough but can be done. If you have a lot of play, the bearing may be going bad. I don't recall if you can change those with the tranny in the car of not.

You need to change that seal soon since they leak tranny oil into the inner CV joints and can trash them, not to mention the loss of oil will kill the tranny.

surfcam · Post by **surfcam** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 2:33 pm

The final drive axles are actually preloaded should ideally have no movement radially or longitudinally. There's two tapered roller bearing on the axles. IMHO once you get 5 thou movement in any direction you will have a hard time keeping seals from leaking and time to look for another tranny. I would replace the seal and if it has this kind of movement keep an eye out for another tranny.

4BTA 3.9 Cummins Stepvan
86TD Golf
91TD Jetta

Op-Ivy · Post by **Op-Ivy** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 4:14 pm

The bearings inside the transmission at the drive flanges have a lot of play. They need replacing or I need a new tranny

Does anyone know if those inner bearings (one on each side inside the tranny) can be replaced without splitting the transmission?

A new used one will cost approx. $600 CAN. Am I better off to replace the bearings or just buy a new transmission?

idhoho · Post by **idhoho** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 5:27 pm

Tell us what car and tranny you have. Always helps to know! First blush~ Check out area wrecking yards!

Op-Ivy · Post by **Op-Ivy** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 5:40 pm

'90 TD 4S Tranny

duffer · Post by **duffer** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 9:50 pm

Where are you located?

You give a quote in Canadian Dollars, so I imagine

you're in Canada.

There's a guy on the Vortex selling a 4s transmission,

for diesel cars, for $120 o.b.o. Maybe he'd take

$100 even as he's had it for a while.

I believe he's in the Toronto area.

He claims the transmission only has 190,00 kms on it.

I could go look for the ad if you're interested

surfcam · Post by **surfcam** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 10:10 pm

There's lots of those out West too (Alberta) for about the same price. The 4S has the same ratio as a few other tranny's. You can go for a higher ratio if you don't need the power.

4BTA 3.9 Cummins Stepvan
86TD Golf
91TD Jetta

Op-Ivy · Post by **Op-Ivy** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 11:41 pm

duffer wrote:Where are you located?

You give a quote in Canadian Dollars, so I imagine

you're in Canada.

There's a guy on the Vortex selling a 4s transmission,

for diesel cars, for $120 o.b.o. Maybe he'd take

$100 even as he's had it for a while.

I believe he's in the Toronto area.

He claims the transmission only has 190,00 kms on it.

I could go look for the ad if you're interested

I wasn't able to find anyone on Vortex selling a 4s. I'm located in Kelowna, BC.

Does anyone know if those inner bearings (one on each side inside the tranny) can be replaced without splitting the transmission?

surfcam · Post by **surfcam** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 2:01 am

The tranny has be completely disassembled to replace the final drive bearings. You also need some special tools and some tranny experience. AGS, AOP, and AVX are the same as the 4S. The ACH is quite similar. If you widen your options it will be easier to find a replacement. I'm 95% sure you can find a replacement in Edmonton or Calgary pick-n-pull for less that 100. Used trannies are little bit of a gamble but you know what a bad one feel like so your ahead of the game. You can also look on this web site to find even more trannies to use. www.scirocco.org/gears

4BTA 3.9 Cummins Stepvan
86TD Golf
91TD Jetta

duffer · Post by **duffer** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 11:40 am

The guy on VWVortex goes under the name iamukrainian69.

He has quite a bit of stuff, in his post, so you have to scroll down

quite a bit to "1990 TD Transmission 190,00kms...$120"

I asked him what the cade was, (4S) because I was thinking

of buyng it, but I changed my mind (already have 3 trans.)

Having said that, the guy is in Oshawa, east of Toronto, so

the cost of shipping to Kelowna, B.C. would, likely, render it

not economically feasible.

It'd probably be easier, and cheaper to check the junque

yards out west.