Stovebolt.com Forums The Shop Area Driveline Cork torque tube ball seal

My '49 keeps tearing these cork seals and I keep having them replaced. Is there a better replacement for this than cork ? Mine last less than maybe 100 miles...if that. Mine is an OEM five speed tranny but 235 motor from '57 car.

Are your engine mounts new? How about the mount at the torque tube ball? There shouldn't be a lot of movement of the ball unless you have loose mounts or are doing some rock crawling.
Is the ball and socket nice and smooth?
Did you follow closely the directions on shimming the ball prior to installing the cork gasket?
Carl

Thanks for the reply..I don't actually do this work myself but I'll fwd this to my wrench who does...Never knew about motor mounts and mount at the torque ball.

Last time this was replaced he said the ball was 'fairly smooth'...

The frame cross-member for the rear transmission mount might have been removed (used until 1954). It is not uncommon to find a truck with this cross member missing. It is needed.

Is the mating surface smooth where the cork slides on the ball?

Tim
Good information there ! Did not know that and will check. As for a replacement made of rubber and NOT cork, I looked at the McMaster-Carr web page under O Rings... Don't really know the size needed at the moment BUT I see that they will custom make an O ring for you for about $9.00. Needs to be I.D of more than 4" for them to make it..

So...what do you guys think ???

I have probably used 100 of the cork ones without seeing one break.

Uhhh...if that's so why have you used 100 of them ?

Don't under-estimate the sealing ability of cork, especially when soaked in fluid. It works better when it is installed dry and soon becomes saturated with the fluid. It expands a bit once this happens. Over use of sealants defeats the sealing ability of cork. For the toque tube ball, you would not want to use any sealant.
Carl

Carl,
I'm not underestimating the sealing ability, just the durability, at least in my truck... I go thru them so quickly. They are getting torn or broken by wear or vibration or...?

I'm about convinced to lay down the $$ and go with an open drive line.. Likely I should or will have to eventually...

Torque Tube U-Joint Ball Housing Adjustment Powerglide, Hydra-matic and manual shift trans. Ball Housing Adjustment are the same.

What it sounds like to me is the Wrench who does the work for you.
Might be not using the correct number of shims.
If the Ball Collar is to close to U-Joint Ball Housing it will tear the cork seal.
That's what the paper shims are for, to adjust how close or far the Ball Collar is from the U-Joint Ball Housing.

Note: The Powerglide and 1/2 ton Hydra-matic transmissions are the only torque tube drivelines
that use a separate stamp out piece metal to be used as the "Ball Seat".
The manual shift transmission ball seat is cast into it's tail housing.