Replaced VW Beetle rear axle seal (click here to see VW type 1 Beetle seal kit)

The right hand rear axle seal was leaking which resulted in oil finding its way onto the brake shoes. This affected the braking of THE 66. Today I replaced the seal etc. I jacked up the car and removed the wheel. I next attached the torque meister (see photo) and after removing the cotter pin, I wound off the large hub nut. A very easy task with the TM tool. Next I removed the seal cover (see photo) by removing four bolts. The main seal was in the cover. The seal was very tight and took a bit of pressure to remove it. After cleaning up the cover ( make sure it it free of burrs and the oil drip hole is clear) I inserted metal oil deflector washer and the new seal. I next removed the outer spacer from the axle (see photo of axle with bearing cover removed). Again, this was very tight as the small rubber O ring behind the spacer had perished and was holding the spacer on tight. Again, quite an amount of pressure was required to remove it. I cleaned up the outer spacer then replaced the small metal washer, rubber O rings and then the outer spacer.


I then replaced the cover using the paper gasket, using gasket sealer to ensure a tight fit.

People told me that the job was quite easy. Well, after doing it a couple of times it may well be. However the first time took some time to think through and get sorted. All up the job took several hours to complete. Next time will be a lot quicker though. But the task is well within the ability of a do it yourself person, so give it a go. The parts cost me only $3. My guess that it would have cost at least $100 to have the work done by a mechanic IMPORTANT: Make sure you check the transmission oil after completing the work. You will see from a photo that quite a bit of oil was lost during the repair job. And yes, I cleaned up the brake shoes, back plate, drum etc etc before reassembling everything.