From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Bentley Rear Axle Oil Seal failure and potential causes.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 27a\1\ Scan453 | |
| Date | 29th May 1936 | |
| W/P - Sr. xivey Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Gry.{Shadwell Grylls}20/KW.29.5.36. Bentley Rear Axle Oil Seal. We thank you for your memo. on this subject, together with the seals which you have returned to the Works. In England we have not yet experienced a failure of one of these seals. When they were originally fitted, the hole in the side plate of the centre box which used to drain the oil back into the centre was blanked off with a plate riveted over the hole. In several cases oil leaked past this joint, but on later cars the casting is modified and no baffle plate is required. We note on the seals you have returned that in both cases the near side seal; i.e., the larger of the two, is dry and that the off side seal leather will rotate inside its housing. We should be interested to know whether you are only complaining of oil leaks onto the offside brake. We imagine that if the near side seal fails by burning out, it is because no oil is getting through the Shatz bearing and the seal therefore runs dry. If therefore you have had a case in which after the seal has burnt itself out, oil has leaked down the near side on to the brakes, we should be glad to know about it. We hope that leaks down the offside tube can be cured by making sure that the smaller seal is not faulty from the outset, and we are taking this matter up with the manufacturers. It will be very difficult to fit beyond the seals any form of oil thrower; first of all because of assembly, and secondly because - as you point out - oil that did pass the seal could not be returned to the axle centre box. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Gry.{Shadwell Grylls} | ||