rear diff seal leaking in cameroon help

[michaelo]

I am in Cameroon with my 2002 1150GS Adv and there is oil on my rear tire, took off the wheel and I see that the oil is leaking from the seal around the wheel hub, - the bevel drive seal around the hub where the wheel bolts on; If I order one from, Europe; can I replace this without any special tools? is it a complex job? what size are the allen:hex bolts on the housing I lost one of my hex keys! Anyone do this repair before? I did a lot of off road driving here water mud and all that, is it possible thqt the breather got blocked and caused pressure; could I clean the breather and top up the oil and keep going? Thks in advance for any help Mike

 

[Den]

There is a link here,
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87214&page=2

 

[Steptoe]

You can replace the seal without undoing any of the bevel housing.

just prise out the old one, and insert the new seal. BUT, the seal often leaks due to the crown wheel bearing starting to fail.

So when you remove the old seal, look at the bearing which can be seen, and look for any of the tiny rivets missing from the cage that holds the ball races, or the cage breaking up. If you do see damage you must replace the crown wheel bearing.
The bolts that hold the case together are 7mm allen head.

It's fairly common for the seal and bearing to fail. You should have taken a seal and bearing with you, it's cheap enough and takes up no room. It's what everyone should carry with them when on a tour, even if they can't do the job themselves any compatant workshop can do the job, as long as they have have parts

 

[michaelo]

Many Many thanks to all who replied, I looked at the link and the pictures and now I feel more at ease, I ordered the parts from a BMW dealer in Ireland and should have them in a few days, I should be able to install them myself given the excellent pics and description above. Yes I'll bring these items on my next big trip! -Mike

 

[Packer]

Take care not to damage the shims and get them back in the correct location!

Other than that the biggest barsteward is actually getting the old bearing off!

If you heat the new one enough it will simply drop into place. I stuck mine in a domestic oven and when it turned blue from the protective oil getting hot I dropped it into place. 17,000 miles later and it's still good.

Probably fail tonight on the way home now that I've said that