Torque tube oil leaking

[Nick Mayne]

I am losing oil which is dripping off the bottom of the torque tube chassis mounting nut.
I have lip seals either side of my back axle and David Cockrane's bronze oil thrower but with his lip seal modification. I wondered if the space is getting pressurised thereby pushing out back axle oil. Looking at a spare back axle I see there is a setscrew on top of the torque tube and just realised that is a breather ... not covered by Woodrow's book! So I need to check if I have lost much oil from the differential but also remove the breather from under the car to check if that one  is blocked. Has anyone else had oil being pushed out (through lip-seal or scroll) by the breather being blocked?

[DaveT]

I've got the same problem on my 1935 Ruby, how easy is it to locate this setscrew breather, either from under the car or from the access point behind the front seats what exactly does it look like?

I have always filled the back axle until it starts leaking back from the filling plug.

[Reckless Rat]

The secret is to fill the axle with the car jacked up and supported on axle stands under the rear crossmember so that the axle hangs down under its own weight. If not, it will be overfilled. A 'D' type axle only needs 250ml of oil.

[Nick Mayne]

I found that the setscrew breather could be seen looking through the internal access panel backwards on the top of the tube. I managed to get a spanner onto it and remove it but cannot recall if that was from under the car or through the access panel. For sure it is a breather with cross-drilling at the top. Mine was blocked with gudge!
However I have not run the van enough since to see if that cured the problem so fingers crossed. I did measure the oil added to the axle carefully so do not think I overfilled it.

[Austin in the Shed]

Are you on std or flattened springs? On flattened springs the nose of the torque tube can be lower than the axle and gravity does the rest.

[dickie65]

I have never worried about a bit of oil coming out of the Torque tube front.
Mine also leaks from the shims between the torque tube and axle.
Its how much it leaks not the fact it leaks which would be a concern to me.