Rear Axle Oil Seals R&R...Easy or PITA?

nostrokes

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Oh great...I DID pack the bearings on the drivers side as that's what others stated that needed to be done.
Oh well, it is what it is.


The grease is the primary lubricant. Even at slow speed with the weight of the truck I sure wouldn't want to spin them while their dry. All the manuals I have read state to pack them.
 

Thewespaul

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Bear in mind, oil bathed wheel bearings on tractor trailers get installed dry and fluid topped off afterwards. A lot more weight and strain on those than in our light duty trucks
 

nostrokes

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Right, but they are designed that way.

I think there is no use beating a dead horse, this has been debated extensively before. It's all personal choice.
 

laserjock

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Oh great...I DID pack the bearings on the drivers side as that's what others stated that needed to be done.
Oh well, it is what it is.
It won’t hurt a thing. The grease dissolves into the oil.

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I’m pretty sure my service manual says to pack them anyway. :dunno
 
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HammerDown

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Thanks again for the feedback...before installing the outer bearing and ratcheting nut I did squirt 'some' gear oil in the cavity. I almost avoided greasing them and was just going wet-soak the bearings in Oil. (perfect application for the thick Lucas Oil Additive)

The truck isn't going anyplace until I'm done both sides, and I'll still need to bleed the rear brakes.

BTW, my Vent line was wide open, I blew through the hose.

Now onto the passenger side...that side should move along a little faster. Especially now that I have the 'correct' wheel cylinders that were boxed wrong. Sometimes running for parts (the right parts) eats-up 1/3 time of the actual job.
 
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HammerDown

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Well...it's nice to have good rear brakes again.
My old Drums were very thin.
Still running the ORIGINAL Master Cylinder (31 years old) how about that!
I seriously doubt a reman/cardone or new would be as long lasting.
 

franklin2

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I am with the guys that grease their bearings. It doesn't hurt a thing, and gives it some lube at start up. The oil does dissolve the grease, I mix 50% grease and 50% gear oil all the time in some of my farm implements at home. It turns the lube into a consistency like apple butter and stops some of the leaks I have through some of the oil seals.
 

laserjock

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I am with the guys that grease their bearings. It doesn't hurt a thing, and gives it some lube at start up. The oil does dissolve the grease, I mix 50% grease and 50% gear oil all the time in some of my farm implements at home. It turns the lube into a consistency like apple butter and stops some of the leaks I have through some of the oil seals.
I’ve filled more than one gear case with cheap grease on the farm to keep it from running out.

LOL
 

HammerDown

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Update...11 months later and the replaced drivers side oil seal FAILLED!
I started noticing the braking was not all that great, the passenger side rear wheel would grab and the drivers side did not.
Looked under the rear and sure enough the drivers side drum is again wet with gear oil.

Wondering...by packing the bearing with grease did that somehow stop the flow of oil to the seal and burn up the oil seal? I know the seal keeps oil in.

I did and always do coat the hubs and seal with grease (but never replaced a 'wet oil filled' axle oil seal before) unless, somehow the seal was just defective or old etc? I seriously doubt I nicked the seals lip and yes, I installed it in the right direction.
Digging into it tomorrow (as long as there is no rain)
 

79jasper

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Went back up, but didn't see for sure.
Did you use the 2 piece bearing type seal?
Best I could say is pull it to see how it failed.
Many have said "I was wrong" with the way I installed mine, but all the literature I could find for the 2 piece seal said to do so. I applied rtv to the inside sealing area of the seal where it sits on the stub.

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chillman88

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Went back up, but didn't see for sure.
Did you use the 2 piece bearing type seal?
Best I could say is pull it to see how it failed.
Many have said "I was wrong" with the way I installed mine, but all the literature I could find for the 2 piece seal said to do so. I applied rtv to the inside sealing area of the seal where it sits on the stub.

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This ^^^

I used the two piece seal, aka scotseal. First one leaked all over. I went back in and coated a NEW seal lightly with RTV and haven't leaked a drop since. The two piece "rides" on itself so the outside and inside are just supposed to seal.
 

laserjock

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I can’t imagine the grease had anything to do with it.

There is the scotseal that seems to be the favorite. I know there was a seal upgrade from ford at some point. Don’t know exactly what change was made to it.

This is the correct Scot seal.

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79jasper

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I can’t imagine the grease had anything to do with it.

There is the scotseal that seems to be the favorite. I know there was a seal upgrade from ford at some point. Don’t know exactly what change was made to it.

This is the correct Scot seal.

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You had recommended that one above, but I didn't see which seal was actually used.

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HammerDown

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This is the seal I installed 11 months ago, I've used National/federal mogul a lot in the past with no issues. This one was intended for the passenger side but never got around to doing it.
I stopped by a good friend's shop (in businesses 40 + years) he told me; "Ray, the aftermarket has gotten so bad with their quality it's a gamble if anything will last a decent amount of time, I've had three seals go bad within a year and wiper blades are real bad"
Not that I don't know what direction a seal should be installed, it's even stamped "oil side".

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HammerDown

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This nick was already existing and no way I could have caused it, but right in the seals path.
Only thing I can do is try to smooth it out a little bit with Emery cloth.
The SKF seal may have a more forgiving footprint...I don't know.

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