Axle Pinion Oil Seals
Axle Type Identification Land Rover or Salisbury ?
First off Identify whether you have a Salisbury or Land Rover type Axle. Land Rover Axles have a round diff pan the Salisbury has straight sides and is held on by 10 bolts. The Land Rover Axles did not have a removable diff pan.
There have been 6 different types of Pinion Oil Seals fitted to Land Rovers. Matters can be further complicted by the changing of axle types by previous owners, the fitting of recon diffs from a different era, and the supercessions of drive flanges using different mudshield types.
Salisbury Type Oil Seals
There Have Been Two Types Of Pinion Oil Seal Fitted To The Land Rover Salisbury Axle, Leather & Rubber. The Original Seal Was A Leather Seal And This Was Replaced in 1999 By A Rubber Seal. The Improved Design Rubber Seal Can only Be Fitted With The Later Flange Assembly Fitted From 1999. The Whole Flange Kit Can Be Retro Fitted To Earlier Vehicles. This Rubber Seal Has a Dust Lip And Works In Conjunction With A Large Mudshield On The Later Flange.If You Have A Vehicle Pre VIN Number XA159807 (1999) Please Check Your Axle To See Which Type Of Flange You Have Fittted Since It May Already Have Been Upgraded To The Later Flange Assembly. The Old Leather Seal Will Fit Late Flange Assemblies But You Are Then Not Getting Benefit Of Later Design Rubber Seal.
This Later Style Rubber Seal Will NOT Fit Early Style Flanges Correctly. The Later Type Flange Can Be Recognised By Having A Large Metal Mudshield Fitted, See Picture Below. It Is Also Possible That At Some Time Someone Has Incorrectly Fitted An Early Type Flange & Seal. The Early Flange Part Number 607185 Has Been Superceded By Land Rover To The Later Flange Assembly Kt STC4457 or STC4403 For All Applications.
Land Rover Type Oil Seals - Series
Series Land Rovers only used one type of Oil Seal FRC4586
Land Rover Type Oil Seals - Defender, Discovery I, Discovery II, Range Rover Classic
As standard fit early 90's up to KA930455 also used FRC4586
Excluding later vehicles, Dicovery 3 & 4 and Range Rover P38 & 3rd Generation there are two types of oil seal used, FRC8220 & FTC5258.The important thing is that the correct seal is used with the correct mudshield otherwise incorrect seal depth in housing may occur and the seal could be damaged by the mudshield leading to a subsequent leakage problem. The later seal FTC5258 has an additional large dust shield moulded.
You cannot really rely on cataloguing since a previous owner may have changed the axle, a recon diff may have been fitted, a newer type of flange kit may have been fitted. The original square style flange FRC3002 was first superceded to a kit STC3722 using the new oil seal / mudshield combination FTC5258 & FTC5317 and then to a round style flange kit STC4858. If you have a round style drive flange you should have the later type oil seal FTC5258.
If you have a square type drive flange check the type of mudshield fitted this will tell you whether you should use early seal FRC8220 or late seal FTC5258. See picture below of the two types of seal & mudshield. Check also our info on seal leakage problems in our transfer box pages since this also applies to diff pinion seals and you may need to fit a flange kit to cure your problem.
