[Healeys] Rear axle vent plug

[Andy Sneddon]

Steve, this may help?

 

When I came to dismantling the rear axle, all that was left of the original breather assembly was the inner tube which screws into the axle. (on the right in the first pic below).

According to the Parts book, the breather assembly on the rear axle for a 1961 BT7, was part number 1G3668. There is a note to say that this was subsequently replaced by part number 1H3364.

It appears that 1G3668 was comprised of the metal inner tube with a plastic “top hat” / breather assembly and the later part 1H3364 was the all plastic version which is freely available today. (On the left in the picture below).




Now on re-building, the plastic breather just didn’t feel right. 

You have a heavy, well made axle with this little plastic appendage sticking out of it!. With not a lot of other options my first thought was to create something as per the original, using the original inner tube (with the hole through the tube walls in around the middle which is ideal for screwing in / out) and add the plastic top hat bit from the new assembly. This was then painted black to match the axle. Not ideal and still feeling a bit flimsy.

Then in the UK MG Club magazine (Safety Fast) the folks from the V8 register had a small article on missing plastic breather tubes – seems to be a common occurrence across BMC of old axles. 

Any-how the interesting bit was that one of their members had spotted that Rover Land uses a similar axle breather (515845) but of better quality, in brass and incorporating a ball-type non-return valve to exclude water and dirt.




They are available from Land Rover dealers or on the internet from a variety of sources. The pack I ordered had two brass breather assemblies for just under £5.



And the best news is that they just screw straight in. I fitted a small gasket, just to bridge the gap between the brass and the painted axle, but you probably don’t need to.

I guess that if you wanted to be more original looking you could put it in a lathe and turn down the hex collar to match the original straight inner tube appearance, but that would leave you without the easy means of tightening / removal.

 

 

From: Healeys <healeys-bounces at autox.team.net> on behalf of BJ8Healeys <sbyers at ec.rr.com>
Date: Friday, 26 April 2019 at 17:48
To: <healeys at autox.team.net>
Subject: [Healeys] Rear axle vent plug

 

Hello, Healeyphiles --

 

While working in the area, I accidentally hit the original plastic vent plug for the rear axle and the cap snapped off.  It was already missing a piece.  Is the plug threaded into the hole, or is it pressed in?  Moss has replacements available and they don't appear to have any threads.  I don't want to try to force the 52-year old plastic and chance breaking the rest of it off in the hole until I know what I'm doing.

 

Happy Healeying!

 

Steve Byers

HBJ8L/36666

BJ8 Registry

AHCA Delegate at Large

Havelock, NC  

 

 

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