are the outer axle bearings lubed by the axle's gear oil, or do they need to be periodically removed and repacked?
thanks,
nate
- posted
16 years ago
Ford 8.8 lube
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- posted
16 years ago
Axle oil.
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- posted
16 years ago
yay! one less thing to worry about.
thanks,
nate
(worked on too many Studebakers, which do require periodic repacking of the axle bearings, which is a PITA)
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- posted
16 years ago
Yeah, I hate re-packing the axle bearings in my 8.75 axle Mopars.... gotta do it every 40 years, dammit!
;-)
In truth I'm sure I "should" do it more often, but of all the 8.75s I've pulled apart, both family cars that I *know* weren't opened for 40 years and junkyard cars, I've never found dry axle bearings. My hunch is that just enough gear oil sneaks by the inboard axle seal to keep the grease nice and soft.
The 8.25 is a splash-oiling axle and I've got well over 400k miles on one of those, but its downside is that its also a C-clip axle :-/ Hasn't bit me and God knows I've cornered the car hard enough, but it does make me nervous to feel all that end-play and know that there's no way to adjust it out.
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- posted
16 years ago
The pre-1958 Dana 44s used in Studes had a threaded hole behind the bearings to allow you to thread in a grease fitting and periodically lube the bearings. They were plugged from the factory however as you were only supposed to hit them every 25K miles or so; I guess they figured if they left Zerks in them that the oil change places would hit them every time and eventually push grease past the outer seal and into the brake drum. I liked that, made it real easy to grease (actually easier than repacking the fronts) but they stopped drilling the hole about 1958ish. I have a later model limited slip in my '55 now, so next time I have the axle shafts out I may drill and tap those holes... I do have the end play set up properly on mine though as the bearing races are retained by the backing plates; I had to set the end play when I swapped the axle in anyways (only had one good set of brakes)
I'm a big fan of periodic bearing repacks, possibly because I used to drive early watercooled VWs for years, which *required* periodic repacks of the rear wheel bearings to keep them alive. Plus I have no luck but bad, so no sense inviting Murphy over for a visit.
nate