Axle Seal/Hub Thoughts

[IronDeuce]

So i'm in the boat other confused Deuce owners (newbies) but had some thoughts on what others are doing in the world of 4x4's, wondering about their application to these 6x6's.

I was out and about in the Deuce when I did what every responsible owner does and felt my hubs. The right rear passenger was a touch too warm for my liking. This is the same hub that the prior owner replaced a leaky seal on before he sold it to me.

When I popped the hub out, I had a nice glob (4oz) of Diff Fluid also come out - along with it turds of grease that used to be in the bearings - hence the likely issue that its the inner axle seal that has the issue.

This brings me to my questions/thoughts:
1. His Uncle (who replaced the seal) said "you need to park it on a hill overnight to make sure that the fluid gets into the axle housing after you swap it out." This seems a little lunatic to me, but what does everyone else think about this?

2. Obviously I need to replace the inner seal.

3. What others have been doing with full floating Toyota axles (like the deuce's) is putting a grease fitting outside their hub, and loading the hub/bearing area with grease as needed. My thought is that this would work to keep the bearings nice and lubed, heat low, and even if a little diff fluid mixed, it wouldn't be as big an issue (until time passed of course). I know it would take a lot of grease, but better than something catastrophic!

Everyone else's thoughts? Thanks!

 

[Westech]

Read the TM and find out how to do it the correct way...... Parts are missing when that seal was changed I can say that almost 100% sure. And us old farts know what was NOT put back in.

 

[porkysplace]

It sounds more like your outer seal is leaking if your getting grease into the outer hub . This thread may help you : Axle leak

 

[poorman4x4]

Its sounds like they left of the wiper or a seal that tucks on the outer bearing with the two spindle nuts holding it on, other words its between the bearing and spindle nut

 

[Heath_h49008]

The cork is missing in the keyway.

Anyone else feel like making a wager?

 

[poorman4x4]

any full floater axle has the same design, take a chevy 14b for example, do you put grease in the hub bearings, nope, the oil from the diff housing will spill into the axle tubes, spilling to the hubs thus lubing your bearings, 2.5 ton toploader in theory the gear oil should be pulled up with the bull gear lubing it and the pinion setup, oil will travel down the axle shafts going through the spindle against the wiper oil will get into the bearings, but you have to heavy grease the bearings to keep that oil out, what can you say it was a old design

 

[poorman4x4]

a cork? interesting tore down numerous 2.5 ton take offs never seen a cork in the spindle would have thought the spider washer would knock that out

 

[SCSG-G4]

The cork goes under the bearing and behind the seal. It gets compressed when the spindle nuts are tightened. The TM calls for it to be there, but there are 'mechanics' that insist they have never used any (and that is why there are grease balls and worn out bearings in deuce axles.

 

[porkysplace]

The cork is missing in the keyway.

Anyone else feel like making a wager?

It's not the inner seal for sure .

 

[poorman4x4]

man thats neat, never seen a cork just a outer wiper, i mean numerous axles now and never seen one, well i learn something new everyday!

 

[hndrsonj]

man thats neat, never seen a cork just a outer wiper, i mean numerous axles now and never seen one, well i learn something new everyday!

And the scary thing is: it's all in the manuals!

 

[poorman4x4]

we've scraped 15 M35A2's and not one had that on the rears, looks like some LSI personnel or 63B's dont look at TM's!

 

[gringeltaube]

And the scary thing is: it's all in the manuals!

Even worse...! Its all in our own tech library; only - there is this very terrifying search window in the Deuce forum: and then one has to type in "spindle AND cork" to see at least 15 threads popping up! All packed full with horrific info & tips; personal experience and mishaps; many crew member lessons learned, etc... REAL SCARY!

G.

 

[turbovr6jetta]

They are pretty hard to identify. Mine all just looked like some crud in the keyway if you knife it a bit you can telk its cork... Unless of course its just a glob of rtv.

 

[porkysplace]

Even worse...! Its all in our own tech library; only - there is this very terrifying search window in the Deuce forum: and then one has to type in "spindle AND cork" to see at least 15 threads popping up! All packed full with horrific info & tips; personal experience and mishaps; many crew member lessons learned, etc... REAL SCARY!

G.

NO not the evil search

 

[Jesse6325]

While we are on the subject of rear axle seals I remember sombody here on SS posting somwhere about updating the rear outer seal( the one against the plate that the brake shoes mount to) with a seal that allows you to run with oil filed hubs.
I have used the serch but cannot find any info on what PN# the seal was or anything. Has anybody else tried this mod?
To me it seems like a darn good idea if you could seal the back of the hub so you could run with oil filled hubs and not have to worry about that seal under the spindle nut failing and washing the grease out all over your brakes,,,

 

[clinto]

While we are on the subject of rear axle seals I remember sombody here on SS posting somwhere about updating the rear outer seal( the one against the plate that the brake shoes mount to) with a seal that allows you to run with oil filed hubs.
I have used the serch but cannot find any info on what PN# the seal was or anything. Has anybody else tried this mod?
To me it seems like a darn good idea if you could seal the back of the hub so you could run with oil filled hubs and not have to worry about that seal under the spindle nut failing and washing the grease out all over your brakes,,,

The shape and design of the rockwell makes it incompatible with "oil bath" type bearing setups like you describe.

Military rockwell = greased bearings.

Do a search for "oil bath" and you'll find the thread(s) discussing this.

 

[Jesse6325]

Oh well,, It was a nice thought,,,,,, Thank you Clinto.

 

[cattlerepairman]

If I recall, the major problem is that, even if one were to leave the keyway cork and/or outer seal off, the gear oil from the pumpkin would not reach the bearings at a quantity and at a level that would guarantee sufficient lubrication. Then there were opinions around the design of greased vs oiled bearings, resulting in the opinion, supported by evidence of worn or completely gone wheel bearings, that the "flat" design of the Rockwells is incompatible with oiled designs.

 

[gringeltaube]

While we are on the subject of rear axle seals I remember sombody here on SS posting somwhere about updating the rear outer seal( the one against the plate that the brake shoes mount to...

According to the TMs that would be the INNER seal (the one closer to the center of vehicle)

FWIW, see this old post here inner seal mod.

G.