Dodge WC51 back axle lubrication

[Grease monkey]

Hello,

i was wandereing if someone could give me an answer. I am changing the seals on the back axle of my dodge because the inner seal was badly leaking. I saw on a post somewhere that the greasing of the bearing is done by filling the the Inside of the Wheel hub with grease. Also what was mentioned is to leave the outerseal away so the oïl can enter in the hub to lubricate the bearings. What is wisdom?

Bram

[Gordon_M]

There has been a lot of discussion about that over the years, none of it particularly well informed as far as I saw. I'm sure the manual just says to pack the bearings with grease on assembly, so I would do it by the manual.  There are a couple of issues with those axles which I should mention, though;

1.  If the differential is over-filled, or the inner seal is worn out, or you park at a really odd angle, the differential oil can migrate down into the hub, which isn't good.

2. The second issue is just a different take on the first issue.  People find differential oil in their hub(s) and assume the diff was over-filled, or the inner seals are leaking, but what is really wrong is that the axle vent on the centre section is blocked up with mud, dust, or grease.  When the axle heats up the pressure actually forces diff oil past the seal down into the hub.

Next time you are working on the truck remove both the axle vent mechanisms and clean them out thoroughly, then re-fit.  Check them regularly too if you use the truck a lot.

[Grease monkey]

Hi Gordon

thanks for the reply, as you said i think its best to stay with the manual. All trough at that time they didn’t had the existng technoligy we have now. But it was working. I have two Ariels(1931/44) which have grease lub gearboxes and they are still doing fine.