Last time I EVER pack floating bearings!

Okay guys, after our little fiasco with the rear locking up on my dads old truck we bought all new Ford Motorcraft axle bearings, races and seals. Well I lubed the bearings per some of your suggestions with synthetic grease that I use to pack normal greased bearings, but now we're tearing the thing back apart again. The rear seals both came apart and started leaking oil, and upon tear down I noticed BOTH hubs could move IN and OUT about an inch. So Im going to throw out a guess that this is what caused the seals to come apart. But WHY? I dont know but Im going to speculate that it was because of the bearings being packed with grease and that caused them to tighten up before they were all the way on.

the only lube i put on rear whl bearings is either lucas oil treatment or gear oil. i would never put reg. grease on those because it will not mix with gear oil. sorry to hear you have to take it apart again but when you put it back together this time use lucas oil treatment on all your bearings and use one qt of it with the rest gear oil and your rear axle will last you forever, i recently had my jeep get stuck in a mudhole and when i got home there was mud flowing out the breather tube for the frt axle. well i took the cover off and sure enough the thing was full to the top in mud. i use one qt of lucas and the rest reg. gear oil and i took it apart and cleaned it real good and put it back together and it was good to go. the bearings were fine. i couldnt believe it. it had to be the lucas. i swear by it now. but good luck

I wouldn't have packed the bearings just a slight caot to protect til the get oil soaked. But even packed unless they wern't tightened correctly they should have been just fine

Well thats what I keep thinking but thats what the Ford dealer is saying caused the problem and thats what they are using to get out of warrantying their seals.

I didnt PACK them pack them, I just spun the bearings in my hands until a thin coat was all over the rollers. I honestly dont know how this could have caused the problem, but as soon as I said that the service guy slammed his book and said he wasnt going to warranty the seals.

you're tightening the hubs with this huge axle nut, no way some grease in the bearings will get in the way for that - 2" play in your hubs is ridiculous, bearings must have been left fairly loose, even tho they felt tight to you. Next time mark how deep the hubs go on the axle, that oughta tell ya if something ain't quite right upon reassembly.

6 Nebraska IDIs said:

I didnt PACK them pack them, I just spun the bearings in my hands until a thin coat was all over the rollers. I honestly dont know how this could have caused the problem, but as soon as I said that the service guy slammed his book and said he wasnt going to warranty the seals.

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Well if you just lightly packed em....leaving enough room for oil to circulate and pass through then your fine. There is something else causing failure.

As I said, I wouldn't have re-used that rear end due to the issue with the bearing surfaces on the spindle that were previously damaged.

I suspect an issue with the bearing retaining nuts / locknut setup. I tighten the bearings down really snug while spinning the hub to get bearings to seat, then back em off a little then torque to spec and lock down!


I am not sure what locknut setup your particular rear end has but perhaps one from http://www.stage8.com/products_lsnb.html will cure that issue.

It has the ratcheting nuts in it.

I noticed when I put it together that it didnt look like the hub was seating all the way down to where it normally did. But I figured that was because of the new bearings and wrote it off. But Im almost wondering if the seal's themselves arent the cause of the issue, because I cant get those suckers to go all the way on when I try it with them torn down.

grease would not haved caused this issue or we would never be able to get the front wheel bearings tight. something else is holding you up wheather it be a race that is not seated or the seal refusing to push over its lip grease is not to blame here. i think the guy screwed you on this one.

i am also with riot here i would be leary about that spindle

grease is also petrolium based it will mix with the gear oil.

for what its worth............The only OEM parts I use are seals

seams to me the after market seals aint worth poop

go out and get an OEM wheel seal and yer favorite after market and conpare em .

I dont recommend grease for full floaters

Uh, I just gotta say, it AINT the grease...done to many, had no problems. You can decide from there what it is, but I'm telling you, it isn't the grease. I use a bearing packer on mine, they are FULL when they go on.

As other have said, you are flirting with a problem re-using the spindle that failed, there is a reason it failed, my guess is you haven't found it yet. I put new seals on mine, and I don't use ANYTHING OEM that I can source elsewhere, mine are national seals and they are doing fine. I don't really care what Ford says either, that's their way of screwing you.

You can do what you want, I'll continue to pack any that I redo. I tighten them just like the front, torque them down to a torque rating, then back them off slightly. You should be able to feel the tension in the rotation of the hub once they are tight enough, then back them off a notch or two.

Sounds like you didn't seat the hub on all the way. Oil or grease on the bearings has nothing to do with your issue, makes zero difference in the adjustment. Bearings are made to a SAE spec so they all should match regardless of the manufacturer as long as they have the same part number....If it doesn't ride on the same spot as it used to on the spindle then something is wrong with the bearings, spindle or their installation.

The reason I bought OEM bearings and stuff is because I couldnt find any USA made bearings at any of the stores here (ie National Bearing or Temkin), so I just went to Ford knowing the OEM bearings are Temkin, I wouldnt recommend this to anyone with a tight wallet because those suckers are expensive. I am lucky because I get a 50% discount because I know the owner of the dealership.
Anyway, I figured the parts guy was trying to screw me that doesnt surprise me one bit.
But I rebuilt one of the new seals that came apart and reinstalled it into the hub just to see what was holding the hubs off, and it looks like these Ford seals sit about 1/4" farther onto the spindle than the old ones did and the rust there is keeping them off... I THINK. Anyway Im going to clean that off and see where we go from there.

I think the grease idea is the only thing that kept us from frying another set of bearings with the oil all leaking out of the seal. That Ford counter guy really ****** me off now, he was just saying that to make me buy more ****.

6 Nebraska IDIs said:

I think the grease idea is the only thing that kept us from frying another set of bearings with the oil all leaking out of the seal.

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Yes Yes Yes you are 100% correct on that one! Again GOOD Reason to use grease!

6 Nebraska IDIs said:

That Ford counter guy really ****** me off now, he was just saying that to make me buy more ****.

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Not a truer word spoken, there job is to sell sell sell, with no reason to offer warranty seeing as you went outside the box and used a method that likely saved you a whole lot of money (Bearings again).

Where the new races installed fully into the hub? Is the inner race able to spin too much on the spindle? that will weld itself onto the spindle in no time if it spins as it is not designed to.

After reviewing those pics of that spindle yet again; I would be really careful about it's reuse, I am sorry but that looks horrible and is a potential candidate for catastrophic failure that could cause sever bodily injury or death! I would use it on a farm/field truck only but nothing on public roads what so ever. Seems it's time for a new rear diff.

Don't know what guide you are using but try this 1985 Ford Service Manual Guide

Is there a noticable ridge on the bottom where the bearing rides? That looks like damage from the bearings being too loose and the inner race was turning. If they were too tight the bearing rollers would eat the race and cage. I agree with Riot, not worth your life or others to risk it....10.25" housings are everywhere so it wouldn't cost much to find another and have piece of mind....Ask yourself this: Are you REALLY going to have faith in that spindle anymore? I doubt it....Too much bluing from the heat....Recently a broker I know lost a flour trailer off the back of his rig, 22 tons of flour aboard....$6000 in damage to the trailer. It happened right at the plant - **** LUCK - He asked me if I thought he should repair his old 5th wheel or replace it...I asked him the same question I just asked you....There was nothing wrong with his plate - it was just too dry underneath and the secondary lock didn't cam around when he pinned up...He put a new plate on it...Piece of mind and his ass covered.