The sterling 10,25 rear axle, is it a known problem giver?

[Bart F-350]

I wonder, this is a 1989 truck, with not many miles due to being a ex airforce ambulance, and me having important registration problems.
But before the big health problems globally I drover her at least once a month "around the church" to keep everything going.
then just before our "house arrest" I changed oil in the carrier, and the seals, linings,cilinders etc. due to a leaking seal. then, also because my trans was under surgery, I didn't drive her almost two years, and now, revived trans installed I took a first test trip today, and I noticed that my right rear drum was smelling, and the rims were hot to the touch.
so again a sticking drum!
all others are fine.
does this Sterling axle has any known problem areas? or are the problems I encounter one of a kind?

 

[WrenchWhore]

I'd say you're probably dealing with a brake shoe that's out of adjustment, an out of adjustment E-brake cable, or a sticky wheel cylinder. I haven't heard many quarks of the 10.25" Sterling other than the tubes like to spin when you put deep gears and big tires on them. On the plus side they're super common in the junkyards. The biggest perk for me are the large wheel bearings and those super cool ratcheting wheel bearing nuts and that the drums can be slid off easily to inspect the brakes. Oil bath seals are kinda pricey imo ($33) but I was able to find some cheap ones on RockAuto for about $10. I have two Sterlings in service now and the only issues i've had to deal with was neglect.

 

[captain720]

The sterling 10.25 is a solid unit I wouldn’t worry about it just maintenance it.

 

[u2slow]

The drum brake design are 12" Bendix type used on ~20 years worth of dodges and fords... not unique to the ford 10.25" axle.

The few troubles I've had with these diffs are pinion yoke and crush-sleeve related, and the axle shaft bolts banging loose (with a locker.) These have remedies though.

 

[Bart F-350]

Hhhhmmmmm????
I guess it's time to reopen them.

 

[WrenchWhore]

The few troubles I've had with these diffs are pinion yoke and crush-sleeve related, and the axle shaft bolts banging loose (with a locker.) These have remedies though.

Now that you mention it. My 87 had a loose pinion nut when I first got it. Not sure how long it's been like this prior to my ownership but i'm sure it wobbled out the yoke and yoke splines slightly. Seems like the nut came loose rather than the crush sleeve compressing too far since after I put a torque wrench on it it spun smooth and had good backlash.

 

[u2slow]

The (early) short pinion/yoke tends to wear on the spline and the nut becomes loose. You can sort of bandaid it with loctite gel on the splines... coincidently, that's factory spec for installing the yoke on a 5spd (2wd) in a 1stgen dodge.

The crush-sleeve I compromised was on later 10.25" (95) with an extremely heavy load. The pinion shed teeth and the crush sleeve came out distorted.

 

[franklin2]

Hhhhmmmmm????
I guess it's time to reopen them.

I have had projects before where I replaced brake components with rubber seals in them, not drive it for a year or so, and have them leak. It seems if you do not drive them after the replacement, they don't seem to "bed in".

I had a project where the rebuilt master cylinder started leaking. I topped off the fluid and just drove it, the leak stopped by itself.

 

[captain720]

Now that I think about it the nut near the yoke on my 10.25 was loose too, but so was absolutely everything else on the whole entire truck so I assumed it was do to the trucks previous life as a skydiver not the axles fault.

 

[Black dawg]

The (early) short pinion/yoke tends to wear on the spline and the nut becomes loose. You can sort of bandaid it with loctite gel on the splines... coincidently, that's factory spec for installing the yoke on a 5spd (2wd) in a 1stgen dodge.

The crush-sleeve I compromised was on later 10.25" (95) with an extremely heavy load. The pinion shed teeth and the crush sleeve came out distorted.

I used the loctite on the splines trick on one 5 years ago and it is still nice and tight. It was really loose, pinion and yoke both ruined. Be interesting to see how long it lasts.

As far as issues specific to the 10.25, the loose pinion nut is pretty common, and a good cleaning and good loctite on the threads they usually dont give trouble again if it was caught early enough. Wheel seal leaks seem to be a little more common on them than the dana axles used in the earlier trucks.

 

[Old Goat]

My 86 was loose, and impact it tight. Got loose again, picked up a good one at PNP, red Lock Tightened it, and this time seem to be staying tight. Old one had wear on it from being loose.


Goat

 

[captain720]

When I got my 10 25 it had a loose pinion nut, the axle nut was off allowing 2 inches of back and forth on the drum, the cover had been smashed into the gears with a rock or something until the gear clearenced the cover by eating it, it was lubricated with only metal shavings and water, and it have been used to haul, tow, and drag everything imaginable in that condition by the last owner and in that condition it was totally functional. After some simple bearings and seals and oil it cruises right along. So I would say it’s an incredible axle but that’s my 2 cents.

 

[david85]

I wonder, this is a 1989 truck, with not many miles due to being a ex airforce ambulance, and me having important registration problems.
But before the big health problems globally I drover her at least once a month "around the church" to keep everything going.
then just before our "house arrest" I changed oil in the carrier, and the seals, linings,cilinders etc. due to a leaking seal. then, also because my trans was under surgery, I didn't drive her almost two years, and now, revived trans installed I took a first test trip today, and I noticed that my right rear drum was smelling, and the rims were hot to the touch.
so again a sticking drum!
all others are fine.
does this Sterling axle has any known problem areas? or are the problems I encounter one of a kind?

Bart, Have a look at this thread:

Drum Brakes (no wait, it's good news)

Most of us are not fans of drum brakes but there seems to be plenty of threads discussing the problems with drum brakes on these trucks, in particular. Most of the comments seem to be about the automatic adjusters not working. I was also having problems with the parking brake not working very...

www.oilburners.net

I was fighting dragging rear drums for many years until I realized it was a problem with the mechanism itself. How does the E-brake work? If it's also not working, you might want to have a look at what happened to me (in the link).