The on final drive seal had been leaking lately on the 318, so we tore it apart today (had the new toric rings & duo-cone seals ready to to) & found the one ring had some cracks on it. I wonder if that is uncommon to have happen? Everything came apart ok luckily we had everything we needed for the repair.
It's very unusual for the ring to crack but not unknown. I hope you had a seal installer for one that big of a diameter.
We got everything back together, filled it with oil, ran it for a few minutes, then stuck a piece of plywood under for the night to check for leaks.........if all is good we will throw the sprocket on & reconnect the track in the morning.
We don't have one.........had to do it the red neck way.........keeping our fingers crossed!!
Everyone I've had cracked was from exterior freezing, either water submerged and froze, or repeated freezing from the perfect mud pack behind.
I thought maybe freezing may have done it too.
Plywood was dry & its all back together now.
Learn something new everyday, I had no idea there were red necks that far north