MTFCA Forum

After driving my ‘14 Touring 100+ miles this summer, she appears to have developed a new leak. When I added the small drum ruxtell a few years back, I swapped out the right hand axle housing with the original 12 rivet one, just to keep the “correct” look. But over the last few weeks in my shop…
So, how does one seal this up more effectively?

If I have to disassemble the rear end to get to a bare axle housing to effect the repair, am I better off putting the 6 rivet right housing back on the ruxtell for durability and re-building the 12 rivet axle as original to sell with the car? The ‘14 has been surprisingly original and my plans are to return it as closely as possible.

I value the opinions of most of you. What do you think?

Keep crankin’,
Eric

Is there any chance that water got into the axle?

TXGOAT2 wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 06, 2025 5:09 pm

Is there any chance that water got into the axle?

Not really.

It's probably loose rivets or a crack around the rivet area. I'd clean the axle housing up and drive the car a couple of miles and then look for evidence of exactly where the leak is. I'd check for any indication of the axle being overfilled with lube.

Number one, those housings like leak on the best of days.
2. What oil are you using in the rear end? Ruckstell need lighter oil than the grease in a standard rear end. Lighter oil equals more leaks.
You are fighting an uphill battle. Best answer change to later rear end.

Right Pat.

That brings us right back to the first post in this thread.

Two questions to the broader group: how does one effectively seal the pumpkin to axle tube seam on a 12 rivet axle housing? And for durability, would a regular 6 rivet axle housing be better or just different on a Driver's T?

Keep crankin',
Eric

Eric,
All of my cars have Ruckstell axles on them. On my brass era cars, I use complete Ruckstell era axle assemblies and the complete "correct" differential and driveline stored away to go with the car as it goes to the next steward. Use a later housing and be leak-free.
-Keith

I went through this scenario in my '14 Touring years ago - complete disassembly, drilled out all the rivets to separate the pieces, hot tanked (was still available years ago), can't recall what I used for a sealer but sealed it with some goop, used button head bolts for reassembly, Loktite the threads then filled the Allen wrench hole with black silicone, dressed down while semi-set & been dry for many years !

I also did the same as Keith a few years ago & replaced the riveted rear with a Ruckstell.

If the rivets are loose, it would be necessary to take the housing off the axle and clean everything up and re-set the rivets. It would probably be best to use slightly oversize rivets. If the joint is at all loose, it will get looser as the car is driven. Putting goop on the outside of the axle is unlikely to do much good.

****See post above regarding using bolts to replace rivets****

Dan Hatch wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 06, 2025 6:35 pm

Number one, those housings like leak on the best of days.
2. What oil are you using in the rear end? Ruckstell need lighter oil than the grease in a standard rear end. Lighter oil equals more leaks.
You are fighting an uphill battle. Best answer change to later rear end.

Thanks Dan and Keith.

I'll check my offsite storage for the 6 rivet right housing and add this project to the list of stuff to be done. That said, is there an effective sealant to apply to the inside of this seam once I have this apart and can tighten up the rivets? I don't want to rebuild the '14 axle, without the Ruckstell, with a known leak like this.

I think that I need to focus on my '27 Runabout so that it can step in as my regular T driver and the '14 can start the journey back to stemwinder with the freshly rebuilt original engine and all this other stuff.

Keep crankin',
Eric

RajoRacer wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 06, 2025 6:47 pm

I went through this scenario in my '14 Touring years ago - complete disassembly, drilled out all the rivets to separate the pieces, hot tanked (was still available years ago), can't recall what I used for a sealer but sealed it with some goop, used button head bolts for reassembly, Loktite the threads then filled the Allen wrench hole with black silicone, dressed down while semi-set & been dry for many years !

I also did the same as Keith a few years ago & replaced the riveted rear with a Ruckstell.

Steve, I see in your pic that you also had a truss. It certainly couldn't hurt to take some of the load off of the lower rivets.

Eric

Loctite 5900 would work well in that location.

LOCTITE® SI 5900 is a moisture-cured, heavy-bodied, silicone-based, form-in-place flange sealant with excellent resistance to oil and joint movement. Its heavy-bodied properties allow it to withstand in-line, low-pressure tests before the product begins to cure. Typical applications include stamped sheet-metal covers, and it is suitable for gaps up to 1 mm (0.04") in metal, plastics, glass and ceramic substrates. It has a skin-over time of just 15 minutes, and once cured provides a seal that won’t shrink, compress, crack or relax, even when exposed to oil or joint movements.

https://www.henkel-adhesives.com/au/en/ ... 59000.html

Here a photo of a T riveted differential half that ended its days as a jack stand. It’s the one in the center with the brazed rivets to stop leaks when it was still in use.

The rusty stain is an indicator that the axle tube is loose and "working" on the centre casting. It needs re-riveting.
I have done a few, with complete success.
The two components need to be separated first. A hot tank clean out is the next essential step. Bot parts need to be completely clean, grease free, and dry for reassembly. I use grade 5 3/4" long x 1/4" diameter fine thread hex bolts to make rivet look-likes. The heads are machined to copy the rivet heads. The end of the thread has a hacksaw cut made across it to take a flat blade screwdriver.
When assembling the two components I use Loktite 515 flange sealant liberally on the two mating surfaces. This product stays flexible, so there are no cracks or leaks. The modified bolts are fitted and the nuts run up finger tight. Then you can use a wrench to draw them up tight. Thar's where the screwdriver comes in, holding the bolts as they are tightening. As a safety measure the screwdriver slots can be spread to stop the nuts ever coming off

The rear axle in my chocolate van was done this way some 30 years ago. It has been out once to replace a split pinion gear. I had no reason to do anything about the housings at the time. It is still leak free some 26000 km later. Allan from down under.

Allan and Steve,

Great work with the bolt based “rivets”. I do believe that the axle tube will need to be separated from the pumpkin casting to get a decent seal. I guess that before rebuilding the original axle, I’ll disassemble, clean, and bolt-rivet the both axle housings to reduce the chance of future leaks.

So the first step will be to pull the Ruckstell and swap in a 6 rivet right axle housing to get the car drivable again. Then take my time on the original ‘14 axle rebuild, keeping the small drums on both axle assemblies so that the AC brakes can stay with the car.

Thanks for all the input, this forum is a big help.

Keep crankin’,
Eric