RF Axle leak - flange torque spec?

[Kyle99TDI]

I recently finished replacing my clutch and changing the transmission fluid. I had some axle boots that were torn apart and spraying grease everywhere so I decided while I had the transmission out to replace the axles and axle seals.

When putting the axle flanges back in there is a small bolt that goes in the center of the flange and holesit to the inside of the transmission, you have to compress the spring on the flange to even get the bolt to reach. Does anyone know the torque spec on this ? I torqued it tight and then a little extra initially. Now I’m getting some fluid leaking on the passenger side axle seal and it’s spraying all over the back side of the engine. I did initially overfilled the transmission just a bit by not waiting for the stream coming out of the fill port to completely stop. Would it leak out of this seal if it were overfilled?

Not sure if I need to rip this thing all back apart and replace the seal again? Or retorque that axle flange bolt.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Metal Man]

Unless it's massively overfilled I wouldn't think that is the cause of your problem, but you should correct it. I found mention is 18lb/ ft for the bolts. It is an 8mm isn't it? So somewhere around there should be about right. You may as well just plan on doing the seal again, if you pull the axle to check the bolt you're half way there.

 

[KrashDH]

I just did my clutch a few months back and replaced both the transmission flange seals while I was in there.

18 ft-lbf is correct. It doesn't need much.

Also, that seal does not rely on torque for it to seal. It's a shaft seal...you press it into the transmission bore and the sealing happens on the OD of the shaft behind the flange inside of the seal diameter.

Did you try to install dry? You have to be careful installing the flange once you get the seal seated because you can catch something on the way in.

It could be a number of things...damage to the bore when removing the old seal, debris under the seal lip, improper seal seating depth, flange didn't get fully seated or incorrect installation...etc.

It's one of those things where you're likely going to have to pull the seal and inspect both sealing surfaces for any damage and look for damage on the seal.

 

[Kyle99TDI]

I installed the seal using a block of wood and a hammer until fully seated and put a little bit of transmission fluid around the seal. Should it be installed dry?

There’s no doubt there could be some debris on the seal.

this one has the seal and the flange as all one piece. Got it from idparts. So I didn’t have to pry inside the bore at all. I knocked it out from the outside by hitting around the flange on each side until it popped out.

looks like I’ll be laying on the garage floor this weekend taking a look!

 

[KrashDH]

I installed the seal using a block of wood and a hammer until fully seated and put a little bit of transmission fluid around the seal. Should it be installed dry?

There’s no doubt there could be some debris on the seal.

this one has the seal and the flange as all one piece. Got it from idparts. So I didn’t have to pry inside the bore at all. I knocked it out from the outside by hitting around the flange on each side until it popped out.

looks like I’ll be laying on the garage floor this weekend taking a look!

Ah ok yeah I can't really see that getting screwed up, I didn't know they sold those as an assembly. I just popped the seal out of the original one and installed a new one. Loctite makes flange sealant (I'd have to look at the number) but I've used it a number of times in press fit applications (I sleeved the crank snout on my truck where the crank seal rides). Maybe it's leaking between that flange that holds the seal and the transmission housing?

 

[chz17]

It's possible leaking between seal and transmission house if you crooked the seal when drive it to the house, I recommend proper seal driver to install it. Here is for reference https://www.vwvortex.com/threads/d-i-y-02j-drive-flange-oil-seal-replacement-02m-similar.5588850/

 

[Kyle99TDI]

Yeah when I took mine apart it looked like it was all one piece so I had ordered this from ID parts

Drive Axle Output Shaft Seal w/ Flange - Right [Febi] (5 Speed VW)

Output shaft seal with flange for the A4 02J 5-speed Transmission & 5-speed manual A5 BRM Jetta TDI. Fits passenger side/right side only. The driver side has a seal but no flange. ...

www.idparts.com

That's very possible that it could be leaking between the flange and the housing. Its probably not a bad idea to try it just as a precaution while I'm going in there again. If this was the case I'm sure it would just be dripping down and not spraying all over the backside of the engine though right ?

 

[Kyle99TDI]

It's possible leaking between seal and transmission house if you crooked the seal when drive it to the house, I recommend proper seal driver to install it. Here is for reference https://www.vwvortex.com/threads/d-i-y-02j-drive-flange-oil-seal-replacement-02m-similar.5588850/

The output shaft seal w/ Flange is all one piece on this particular part I installed. Potentially the flange may be slightly crooked from the transmission being installed as I put the flange in before installing the transmission. And if you've put a transmission in before I'm sure you wish you put the flange in afterwards as its a pain in the ass to get it around the engine when putting the transmission in.

 

[Kyle99TDI]

Figured I would update everyone on this. So after taking it all apart, I found that the tiny spring that goes inside the back of the seal fell off when I pulled out the flange from the transmission. Put a new seal on, re installed everything and torqued to spec. Drove it home from work which is 30 miles, and so far no leaks.

 

[Metal Man]

Thank you for the update.

 

[branger]

thank you for this post, just finished up my smf conversion on my 2.5 5 speed that went smoothe as could be after i knocked that stupid pf axle flange off, drove for about a week , and been chasing an oil leak for a bit , turns out same thing , i knocked that spring off when removing flange. removed axle and pulled flange again and their was that little spring just hanging out in their not doing anything but annoying me , tried for about an hour to reinstall the spring on the seal and then gave up and ordered new seal which is on its way as i right this , hopefully install goes well and this is the end to my saga , thanks again cheers brother

 

[gforce1108]

thank you for this post, just finished up my smf conversion on my 2.5 5 speed that went smoothe as could be after i knocked that stupid pf axle flange off, drove for about a week , and been chasing an oil leak for a bit , turns out same thing , i knocked that spring off when removing flange. removed axle and pulled flange again and their was that little spring just hanging out in their not doing anything but annoying me , tried for about an hour to reinstall the spring on the seal and then gave up and ordered new seal which is on its way as i right this , hopefully install goes well and this is the end to my saga , thanks again cheers brother

No need to pull the flange to do a clutch on a 5sp. I've done many and the only flanges I've pulled was on a complete trans disassembly. You can do more harm than good. Push engine forward and tilt towards trans and the trans will pop out/in easily!

 

[branger]

I managed getting it out fine after jacking the engine forward yes but laying on the floor trying to get it back in is where I struggled it just kept binding on that flange and engine block slot ... another set of hands/eyes might of helped I guess but after a couple hours of fighting with it was enough for me . Dropped it and knocked er off and stabbed it first try