Confused about wheel bearings and lube on deuce

[maddawg308]

Following the manuals, and the LO, and watching other work on their trucks, and doing maintenance on MY trucks, I am confused. Do the outer bearings on the deuce wheels get their lubrication from the main differential housing 90W, and it gradually migrates out toward the bearings as the axle turns, OR do the bearings require special regular attention NOT taken care of by the diff. lube?

When I pulled a rear axle shaft to repair the outer shaft seal, I assumed that since the shaft went all the way to the diff, that the lube from the diff. would make its way back to lube the outer bearings. Am I wrong?

 

[Scrounger]

All the wheels bearings, inside and out get packed with grease. And the cork in the keyway everyone seems so to have "problems" with is to keep the gear oil away from the bearings.

 

[Angus1]

Not everyone has "problems" with it. In modern big trucks the bearings are oil bath. but these old trucks still get grease packed bearings.

 

[Jake0147]

Agreed. These axles were built long before there were EP addatives in rear end oil, which means you've got two choices. Massively oversized bearings in an oil bath, or lube separately with grease. I also suspect that there's some degree of safety in the isolation of the extra seal, especially for fording kit equipped trucks by keeping each lubed item in a separate zone, failures can be minimized to a point. For instance, one leaking wheel seal would compromise only one set of bearings instead of taking out both sets of bearings and a differential assembly. Or in the event of about any driveline failure the axle shaft can be removed and still have sealed bearings to limp or tow the vehicle without the risk of loosing the whole wheel end.

I SUSPECT that a more modern oil and a more modern bearing would allow an oil bath to be quite effective although the bearing still looks a little skinny, lots of PSI at the contact point... (That's subjective, I'm not endorsing doing it, nor can I be sure where the line is between "too" small of a bearing and just smaller than I'm used to seeing) however without these modern marvels of bearing making and bearing lubrication in the minds of the designers, they sealed the deal when they went with a wheel seal that is pretty much inadequate for holding gear oil in place, so it ends up in the brakes if it gets past the seal (and cork) on the outer bearing.

 

[JasonS]

Agreed. These axles were built long before there were EP addatives in rear end oil, which means you've got two choices. Massively oversized bearings in an oil bath, or lube separately with grease. I also suspect that there's some degree of safety in the isolation of the extra seal, especially for fording kit equipped trucks by keeping each lubed item in a separate zone, failures can be minimized to a point. For instance, one leaking wheel seal would compromise only one set of bearings instead of taking out both sets of bearings and a differential assembly. Or in the event of about any driveline failure the axle shaft can be removed and still have sealed bearings to limp or tow the vehicle without the risk of loosing the whole wheel end.

I SUSPECT that a more modern oil and a more modern bearing would allow an oil bath to be quite effective although the bearing still looks a little skinny, lots of PSI at the contact point... (That's subjective, I'm not endorsing doing it, nor can I be sure where the line is between "too" small of a bearing and just smaller than I'm used to seeing) however without these modern marvels of bearing making and bearing lubrication in the minds of the designers, they sealed the deal when they went with a wheel seal that is pretty much inadequate for holding gear oil in place, so it ends up in the brakes if it gets past the seal (and cork) on the outer bearing.

Not true. Extreme pressure lubricants are mentioned in my early fifties era REO civilian manual so they were available when these axles were built. It also mentions greasing front and rear wheel bearings.

 

[maddawg308]

Okay, which bears in mind the question: under regular use, how often should one think about checking the wheel bearings and re-lubing them? My deuce I got in February, with 37 miles on it (just rebuilt), have put 800 miles on it since. When should I think about taking the whole shebang apart to check and relube the bearings?

 

[Scrounger]

We use to tear them down check the brakes, clean and repack the bearing and lube the truck one every six months. We also checked the fluids in the transmission, transfer case, and differentials. We did this as soon as possible every time we went thru deep water.
Now as far a how often to do this for a private owned and operated truck. I go thru everything once a year. Not because the truck gets enough use to require it, but when one it dealing with something this big I want to go over it so that I can feel safe about driving it on the road.

 

[neilhendrix]

Got this from rsh253 (Russ ) . I had it and lost it so he sent it to me. Helped me alot .Maybe it will help others.http://www.steelsoldiers.com/index.php?module=pagesetter&func=viewpub&tid=3&pid=7

Neil

 

[neilhendrix]

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/index.php?module=pagesetter&func=viewpub&tid=3&pid=7

 

[1stDeuce]

I have a leaking inner seal on my deuce (90 wt dumping out onto the wheel) and when I pulled out the axle, there was no outer seal. This means that the NG unit that was taking care of my truck evidently didn't believe in greasing the bearings, but just planned to let 90wt lube them. I have seen lots of discussion of this, and it boils down to the fact that the inner seal was not designed to handle 90wt lube. It does a good job of keeping the grease in, but not so good at keeping 90wt in. If the inner seal was replaced with a modern two lip seal, I should think that letting 90wt lube the wheel bearings would be fine... If using standard mil seals, I think you'd have better luck greasing the bearings and sealing them off from the 90wt that lubes the axle.

As for repacking, if you're not getting the axles in deep water, you should be good for a long time between services. If you do a yearly brake inspect, that's a good time to repack the bearings. I don't even clean them if the old grease looks good... Just pack a little fresh around them and re-install... given that the inner seal doesn't hold in 90 wt, it probably doesn't do a very good job of keeping out water, so if you get into hub-ish deep water, I'd say time for a repack.

C

 

[jasonjc]

One thing to think about, If you use the grear oil to lube the b ears and don't drive it a lot. The oil will drain off the brearing and they will rust. Also if you drive on a slope one side will have oil and the other will not. You will also have to fill the dif alot fuller to have oil in the hubs. the little oil that will make its way there may not be enugh to keep the bearing fully lubed.