Hello,
Recently purchased my first Ford truck, a 97 F250 w/7.3L diesel. I discovered the passenger rear drum brake was full of oil. Cleaned it up and put it back together to do some research.

I see how the hub comes off and there are two bearings in it an an oil seal. The bearings are lubed in wheel bearing grease. Does differential oil circulate through the bearings too?

It doesn't look like a difficult job. Do the seals go bad often or could this be due to a clogged differential vent? Truck has only 100k miles.

Any gotchas I should be aware of?

Thanks in advance!

 

I know this is an old thread.....have you gotten her fixed?

 

this could be caused by a bad rear axle seal, or a leaking brake wheel cylinder.to determine which is leaking you will have to smell the the "oil" gear oil has a distinctive smell, and it will be pretty obvious if it is an axle seal or a wheel cylinder.

 

Thanks, yes I still have the problem. First thing I checked was the smell and it didn't smell like differential oil, but the wheel cylinder was the only part of the thing that was dry. Go figure. It was a real gooey sticky mess. I didn't have time to mess with it and the leaking fuel pump so I took it into a shop.

I'll post the answer as soon as I get it back.
Thanks!

 

Sometimes not being very careful in putting back the hub could nick the seal....then the juice would flow. Hope fully you've got it under control.

 

Aside from the seal make sure the axle vent is clear.

 

a goopy sticky mess that almost looks like axle grease usually signifies a very slow leak that allows the brake dust to mix with whatever is leaking, and can be very difficult to find.