idea on greasing front hubs

[sootman73]

I was wondering if you could drill and tap a grease zerk into the front hubs on my dana 50. Like if you were to take all the bearings out and then drill right between the bearing races in that open section. then you could always throw a little fresh grease in there if you wanted to. i seem to have to be doing this quite often because my lockouts dont seal much anymore and i cant find a seal kit anywhere...

just thought it would be nice to have a quick way to grease the bearings

 

[Zrock]

just to Napa and find some rubber seals the same size. and use silicone for the lockout to hub seal. You dont want a grease zerk in their as you will over time start getting grease in your lockouts and then they will not work properly... I was showen by a teck and avid 4x4 guy years ago just to clean and soke the gears of the lockouts in gear oil... work beautiful everytime

 

[sootman73]

my lockouts are supposed to have grease in them. They aren't the ford lockouts they are aftermarket. The ford techs filled them with grease. i dont want to soak them in oil because that will go right into the bearings and i dont want to be mixing oil and grease together in there.

here is where i was thinking. its a relative location but those lines represent the bearings and then the x is the zerk right between them.

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on edit i would probably have to put a needle zerk in there to clear the wheel when taking it off and putting it on.

 

[SparkandFire]

This is a very interesting topic. I wonder if you could drill and tap there, then have a low profile pipe plug to fill the hole, then pull the plug to pump in grease.

I remember the superwinch hubs on my bronco being grease filled as well...


i wouldn't worry too much about oil and grease mixing in there, all grease is just oil in a wax suspension anyway, oil shouldn't hurt anything.

 

[sootman73]

well i'm not gonna put oil in cuz i figured it would be too thin and leak out. but have you seen the needle grease zerks? i'll get a picture of one. it should work about perfect...

 

[FordGuy100]

I had that exact same tought the other day! Zerk fitting to keep things greased up.

 

[Goofyexponent]

The only thing I would worry about is the same thing that happens to the brakes on big rigs.

If you pump too much grease into the S-cam bushings (or even in a slack adjuster, and it flows down the S-cam and into the brake drum), it will wind up getting into the brake drum, coating it in grease. Grease, as you know, is a REALLY good lubricant. Brakes are not effective when coated with a lubricant...resulting in white/blue smoke coming from that wheel, and reduced stopping distance.

I know, the front hub on a D50/60 are not drum brakes, bit if you eventually put enough grease in there to pop out the inner seal, the first thing to get coated would be the hub, then the brake rotor.

It is a good thought, and it shows that you are all thinking of ways to improve the design, but personally I wouldn't want to take that risk.

If you were paying attention while greasing, and making sure that the grease stayed where it should, wiping up any extra before it caused damage, it would be an A-1 system!!

 

[crashnzuk]

That cavity would have to be completely filled with grease for any to actually make it through the bearings. I would think once it is completely full, it would start to come out of the seal and start to coat the brakes no matter how little you put in from that point. What are you doing with your truck that you need to lube the bearings all the time? Are you driving through deep water or something? Aside from that, I don't see what would or could get in there under normal use.
Travis..

 

[franklin2]

You guys go ahead and pack the hub with grease if it makes you feel better. But when it's 20F outside and you need your 4wd, you will be sorry. The hubs will probably eventually lock, but that little spring in there is not going to unlock the hub till the weather warms up, if then.

 

[sootman73]

my hubs have always been filled with grease and they lock and unlock at -10 degrees just fine. It would be nice to just have some fresh grease in them every 6 months without having to pull the hub apart and do all that. i fill the hub with grease everytime i repack the bearings. it gets pretty thin when you do a lot of braking like in stop and go or with a trailer. but with my semi-leaking lockouts it would just be nice to have the option to....

if i feel they are getting kinda warm after an hour drive i could throw a few pumps in there if not for anything but the peace of mind...

 

[jam0o0]

i can't see what kinda of hubs you've got but warn says in bold not to grease their hubs. the guy's i've talked to who have done this all have grease every where if they ever get to freeway speeds. the inner seals are a joke. the grease you put in will get out. the more you put in there the more will get out. just get used to repacking them or design a better seal.

the hub seals are EASILY replaced with the right size o-ring from mcmaster carr. a little sillycone and they shouldn't give you any trouble. also seal eash bolt where it goes through the hub face.

 

[Agnem]

There is an important thing to remember about grease in hubs... it flows. Due to centrifigal force, whatever grease is stuck in the hub between the two bearings, it will try to flatten out and ooze it's way towards the bearings. If you actually presurize that grease and force it to go through, a lot of it is going to be pushing really hard against your seals and the locking hub. The only reason you would ever need to add more grease, is if you have contaminated it somehow, and that means you should be repacking anyway.

 

[sassyrel]

my lockouts are supposed to have grease in them. They aren't the ford lockouts they are aftermarket. The ford techs filled them with grease. i dont want to soak them in oil because that will go right into the bearings and i dont want to be mixing oil and grease together in there.

here is where i was thinking. its a relative location but those lines represent the bearings and then the x is the zerk right between them.

You must be registered for see images

on edit i would probably have to put a needle zerk in there to clear the wheel when taking it off and putting it on.

also called alemite grease zerk--near flush--

 

[Agnem]

That zerk fitting would make getting the wheels on and off more fun.

 

[93turbo_animal]

I've never seen any lockouts that have more then a light film of grease any more then that and its going to affect how they work. You keep adding grease and eventually its gonna start coming out of the seal and then your gonna need a new one of those. It sounds like if you would just fix where you think the grease is getting out then you wouldn't have to worry about water getting in or adding grease. I had a lockout that wouldn'y seel tight to the hub so I pulled the lockout and put a bead of black RTV around it and let it set up some then tightend the lockout down and no more troubles