Steering Idler (Oil filled type) Salvage

[kmoses]

Ebay (Item 400761245230) AVX Shaft Oil Seal TC20x31x7 Rubber Lip 20mm/31mm/7mm metric $4.75.
I think I bored the housing ID 0.010" smaller than the stated seal OD (I wanted a nice tight fit).

[baltobernie]

Received new seals; thanks for the p/n. On my housing, the OE seal seems to be held in place by a tiny lip in the casting. It looks like you machined this off, and ended with a straight wall on the seal mating surface. So you are counting on a friction fit of the new seal to keep it in place?

[kmoses]

Yes, friction alone holds it in. If you think about it, that is what retains the crank seals, cam seals, valve seals, etc. The factory seal was all sealing material with no metal support and was more of a compression packing than a lip seal. So far, mine is not leaking.

[baltobernie]

Just got mine back from the machine shop. $60





You can see he had to cut below the "lip". He said he only had to remove about 0.020" from the bore.

I have one of the new ball-bearing dampers on my car now. Personally, I think it's a step backward in design. Furthermore, it has no sealing to keep debris and water out. You can, however, use an oil filler cap gasket nicely for this purpose. I'm thinking about putting the rebuilt OE unit back on the car.

[StuartSpencer]

What oil did you refill with?

Thanks.

-Stu

[kmoses]

I used 90w gear oil in mine.

[spate75fiat124]

I refilled mine with aircraft hydraulic fluid (red)

[StuartSpencer]

Thanks. I have seen both 90W gear oil and ATF suggested. When I took mine apart last night, it smelled more like ATF or PS fluid than 90W gear oil.

-Stu