S1 Diff quill shaft oil seals

[Astacus]

The quill shaft oil seals on my S1 diff are metal enclosed leather items 2.5" O/D 1.5"ID and 0.5" thick. Trying to track down replacements I was recommended to replace them with nitrile seals. Has anyone done this, or got any idea if this is OK.

It seems leather seals are rather specialist these days, although they are available to order. Apparently the nitrile ones are more durable.

[heightswitch]

Steve is heavily into leather and has the same diff in his car as yours..I should enquire from him directly if I were you.
N.

[Astacus]

When I said "specialist" that wasn't what I had in mind!

[Astacus]

heightswitch said:

Steve is heavily into leather and has the same diff in his car as yours..I should enquire from him directly if I were you.
N.

Any thoughts Steve?

[Adrian@]

Something to consider is that the wipe area for a leather seal is large and the groove worn into the output flange will cause modern seals to drop in to that groove and not seal correctly.
Adrian@

[Astacus]

Adrian@ said:

Something to consider is that the wipe area for a leather seal is large and the groove worn into the output flange will cause modern seals to drop in to that groove and not seal correctly.
Adrian@

Thanks Adrian, I had heard that the nitrile seals could cause a groove to wear in the shaft. I don't know how real this possibility is though, considering the relative hardness of the steel and the nitrile. Obviously I want to use the best solution.

[Adrian@]

Hi, I heard this too, but this is the issue of already worn grooves where the new lips seal will not seal as the old groove (worn by the leather seal) is so wide, and these new seals do need a perfect surface to work.
Adrian@