Speedi-Sleeve oil seal groove on drive shaft?

[vandentr]

Guys,

On an Alpha One, has anyone speedi-sleeved the upper portion of the drive shaft just below the o-ring groove where the lower seal rides?

I installed a new double-lipped seal this past May and, after separating the two halves yesterday I noticed that the bottom-most lip on that seal had been worn away to the point that the retainer spring was visible.

I knew the shaft had a groove from the previous seal, but I figured the new double-lipped seal would straddle the groove. Apparently that was not the case.

So back to my question, what have people here done to effectiely deal with this issue?

Thanks,
TVB

 

[Fordiesel69]

Re: Speedi-Sleeve oil seal groove on drive shaft?

clean the groove with 600 grit emery, then follow with crocus cloth (used for crank and cam jornals.) use a one sided seal like the factory.

The groove will be quite deep, and in my opinion a speedie sleeve will not work. However, many of my MC-1 drives have very deep grooves and still work fine.

I beleive that seal is not intended to keep water from getting into the spline area, rather not to keep lube oil in the drive. The internal seal is for that.....

 

[vandentr]

Re: Speedi-Sleeve oil seal groove on drive shaft?

Yep you're right.

I stopped in at one of the local marine repair shops today and showed them the lower half of the unit with the drive shaft sticking out. He said that grove is common and as long as it's not rough it'll be fine.

You're also right about it's purpose - it's designed to simply keep water out of the area where the splines intersect with the driven gear in the upper housing.

Thanks for helping to calm my fears!

-TVB