Posted by Sherman in Idaho [72.47.153.163] on Saturday, October 24, 2015 at 13:27:14 :
One last question on that D300 rear axle. Are the wheel bearings supposed to be lubed by whatever oil sloshes out of the pumpkin and makes its way to the ends of the axle tube? I thought there should be an inner axle oil seal like on the Rockwell axles, but there doesn't seem to be anything. One on-line source I looked at talked about packing the wheel bearings, but there was no grease in mine when I took them out and from what I can tell, they should be open to the axle housing. The filler plug in the pumpkin is below the axle tube level, so oil would only go into the tubes when going around corners, and it would only get into the bearings when slung out from the back of the flange and then it works its way through the outer bearing and eventually into the inner bearing. Seems like an unpredictable method, and yet oil definitely ran out when I pulled the axle shaft. On the other hand, the "oil" that was actually in the bearings looked more like tar. I only find one seal (in the hub) whose function is to keep oil out of the drum. Am I missing something here or is that how it's supposed to be? Absent any better information, I think I'll pack the bearings with some light (non-moly, non-fibered) grease just to be on the safe side, and it if ends up mixing with the gear oil, it shouldn't hurt anything.
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