Oil Leak front spindle

I have a square dial 10EE 1982 machine. We are in the process of removing the paint. I now have a good oil leak out of the front bearing plate. There is a gasket shown on the parts book. What do I have to do to repair the leak? How difficult is it to remove the spindle? Help please with what to do. Thank you Jim

There is a drain hole at 6:00 on the front bearing plate.

Hal

More info would help. You have an oil leak when? With the machine running or sitting? How full is the headstock? Have you had the top cover off to look inside? Have you pulled the sight glass to replace the gaskets? Did you drain the old oil and refill to the correct level?

The gasket can be replaced without pulling the spindle if you remove all the cap screws and cut the new gasket at the top.

Oil Leak

rimcanyon said:

More info would help. You have an oil leak when? With the machine running or sitting? How full is the headstock? Have you had the top cover off to look inside? Have you pulled the sight glass to replace the gaskets? Did you drain the old oil and refill to the correct level?

The gasket can be replaced without pulling the spindle if you remove all the cap screws and cut the new gasket at the top.

Click to expand...

Cal thank you. More details: oil leak is definitely from the gasket between the nose casting and headstock casting. The vent hole is clear. the gearbox is now drained and it still leaks. leaked more when I ran it. When I ran the machine it had three measured quarters of DTE Light. I have removed the paint from the machine and this is when the leak began. Now drained the oil, opened the top cover and the headstock is basically empty. Some minor residual oil.
Removing the spindle to change the gasket. How difficult is it to remove the spindle? What is my best course of action. I can not see how I can clean and slide in a new gasket that will not be oil-soaked without gaining more space between the castings. This is further than I wanted to go but I want a first class repair. Can not paint the machine with oil control problems. Your thoughts please. Jim

If you remove the ⅜” cap screws that attach the front flange to the headstock, the flange will be loose enough to remove the old gasket and install a new one. You will have to cut both gaskets to remove the old one and install the new one. Note the small hole in the gasket, it goes directly at the bottom, so cut the gasket at the top.

Darryl has done this before, so I hope he provides some advice. One thing you do not want to do is rip the gasket trying to get it in place,

Removing the spindle is not difficult, but you need to read up on it. There are a lot of posts about how to do it on the forum.

I think that about covers it. Slit the gasket and pushed it into place..as I remember. I did soak the gasket with Gasgacinch per instructions. I also applied bondo around the cover when I painted it, that may have added some sealing properties, no leaks and that was almost 20 yrs ago.

daryl bane said:

I did soak the gasket with Gasgacinch per instructions.

Click to expand...

Daryl, whose instructions?

Gasgacinch. Says soak the gasket, let dry to tackiness and install.

daryl bane said:

Gasgacinch. Says soak the gasket, let dry to tackiness and install.

Click to expand...

I think he meant where were the instructions to use Gasgacinch.

Bondo to seal? really, I would think the gasket would be enough..

I would add stone the faces down to remove any pecker marks.

The gasket I got was a plain brown paper gasket. From my olde motorcycle days, always treated those paper gaskets with GasGacinch, and that is what I did. The Bondo was for cosmetics only, I "frenched" in the cover seam so it looked like there was no separate cover, except for the bolt holes, just something I did at the time. I did the same thing on the split between the ways and the bottom base so it appears like it is all one piece, silly stuff.

Gasgacinch sounds like an interesting product. I will look into it, I have a BMW R60 queuing up for restoration. For 10EE's I don't use a lot of sealants typically. The brown fiber gaskets don't get sealed, but the cork gaskets get some Yamabond on one side.

Its been around for ..since WW2,maybe earlier. When you see the can, that kinda dates it. It smells like old time rubber cement, probably what it is. Works great on paper gaskets and cork. Yamabond is a favorite also. Gasolia is another. Never used it though. Small world, I have a R60/2 coming up also, probably do that one before the Norton Commando.

Have worked around old cars too long....I always use sealer on paper gaskets....force of habit i guess.
Gaskacinch is pretty good. The brush on Permatex for paper gaskets is good as well...Copercoat works as well.
The British (Cosworth) use Wellseal.....
For silicone usual choice is "Ultra Grey".....
Cheers Ross

One reason I don't seal all the gaskets on a 10EE is that I always want to be able to disassemble easily. For me the ideal setup is where the gaskets seal the oil in without any sealant. I might use sealant on one side of a gasket just to attach it to a cover that will be removed or loosened during assembly and adjustment. For example, the side cover on a gearbox is screwed to both the gearbox and the top cover. There is one large gasket for the joint. The top cover needs to be loose during installation, until the top lever is adjusted (so that the top cover is aligned and the bushing is centered and the cone gears engage evenly at both ends). So I might use some sealant on the cover side of that gasket, mainly to hold it in place. Same for the gasket for the end gear cover on the gearbox, since that cover may come off several times. I also look pretty carefully at how the gaskets were sealed by Monarch when the machine was new, or the last time it was overhauled. Monarch did not use a lot of sealant. I also find that typically the surfaces that get gaskets on a 10EE remain flat and perfect even after 70-80 years. Covers and mating surfaces are seldom warped, unlike old cars.