Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Salisbury diff

Back in the day we used an epoxy type material called belzona (sp?), worked well.

I've checked the axle tubes and there are 4 plug welds on each, with only one leaking, and the tubes aren't turning at all, so I am trying the JB Weld technique for now. Cleaning has been done and 2 coats of epoxy are on there. Tomorrow I will sand the surface, prime and overpaint with black Hammerite. Then off for a test run on Wednesday. If it fails it will be a trip to the welding specialist. I'll post some pictures of the stages when the work is complete.

Hammerite Les..? Smoothrite would perhaps be a better option...?

It's smooth Hammerite, black.

Never been a fan of the brush on 'hammerite/smoothrite' but do like their Stonechip Shield aerosol stuff. Coats very well.

Hammerite/Smoothrite is very porous and prone to pin holing

Arwyn

The paint that is already on their barely covers the cast steel as it's so thin so the Hammerite will be better, and it's only around the repair anyway. It's primed and ready for the Hammerite this afternoon.

Les, seems I owe you an apology too, for supplying poor paint info...Sigh! I automatically defer to Arwyn`s thinking given the degree of his experience, Morgan and otherwise.

I would only add that I have made use of the smooth version of Hammerite without issue for a number of years and would not have suggested it`s use had I not found it to be an effective easy to use paint.

I had used the original hammered enamel finish and found that certainly created a pinhole effect to the extent that in time little dots of rust could poke through, which is why I baulked at the idea of you possibly using that type of finish..

Hope your choices work out well for you Les.

So the repair is all done, new oil in the diff all I need to do now is drive the car and see if the leak has stopped. A few photos of the repair process:

Having drained the diff of oil, cleaned up around the leak with wire brush to remove old paint and then throughly washed with cellulose thinners, including brushing into the plug weld that was leaking. Looking at the state of the other weld I decided to cover both with JB Weld.



Once fully dried I checked to see there was no more oil seepage then applied the JB Weld over the whole area - one layer, let it cure for 5 hours then a second layer.



The next day, after the JB Weld was cured I wire brushed and sanded the surface.



Cleaned the surface with soapy water and rinsed off, left to dry then grey primer over the area.



After 6 hours drying time I painted the area with Smooth Hammerite.



So I'll see how it holds up over the coming weeks. If it leaks again I'll have to strip it all back and see a welding specialist.

I did contact JB Engineering about this and he replied:
They are always a problem....
It could be welded, but the issue is the cast centre section does not like to be welded, and is the reason why they sometimes leak. If you want to leave the axle in the car I would use a black tiger seal sealing compound, which you can push into the leaking hole and then smooth over with a wet cloth. This should seal as long as it is clean and dry first.
If you wanted it to be welded, it could be done. I would need to burn off any paint that may be in the hole so that the weld can seal the hole correctly.