WATRD

When I did the axle swap, we were unable to find anyone with the correct inner oil seals in stock, so we left the ones that were in the axle and knew we would have to revisit that in the future. Over the past couple of weeks, I had been seeing some drippage from the short side, so I knew the time had come. Sure enough, when we cracked the diff, all that poured out was a chocolate milkshake. The seal had allowed much of the diff lube to leak out and during last weekends submersions, it had been replaced by water

To get at the seals, we had to tear down the hub and pull the axle shafts, so that we could remove the carrier and replace the inner seals. In the process, the wheel bearings were exposed.

After one year of hard use, high-speed freeway driving, rocks, mud, you name it, the bearings and races are showing virtually no wear. You can see where the bearings have seated into the races, but effectively, the bearings are just getting broken in.

Keep in mind that the axle I have is notorious for frying bearings and when they go, they tend to demolish the races on the spindles as they go.

We saw NO sign of problems or wear during our inspection and no sign of heat build up. In fact the grease was still mostly white and the metal showed no sign of tempering.

This is not meant to be a scientific test or the beat all, end all of grease tests, it's just one mans experience. But based upon what I saw in those hubs, I repacked the bearings again with this stuff http://www.amsoil.com/products/grg.html and I intend to continue to run it. I have been using this grease in all of my lubrication points, including u-joints, as well as in the wheel bearings and have had no problems, but this was the first time I had the chance to tear into the wheel bearings and see where I stood.

I just thought you might like to know.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

That is great to know Rob.
I am a believer in anything Amsoil.

When Doxon's did my manual hubs several years ago, I took in Amsoils heavy duty grease,
only mine is in a small tub so you can smear it on.

I do not think mine is meant for repacking the bearings though, but when I have them tear down the front end again some day to repack 'em, I will probably take in the same grease you used.

WATRD

After hearing the horror stories of fried bearings and mangled races, I didn't know what to expect. It was a very pleasant surprise to get in there and find a bunch of "like new" parts.

It *almost* made up for the fact that the drones at the auto parts store sold me the wrong oil seals, so we had to leave the ring-gear/carrier on the bench and the truck up on jack stands to make an hour long jaunt into Monroe to find the correct ones