OK, me again. Sorry for just asking and never answering anyones thread. Reason: I have no freaking clue ...

I just finished the grease my front end and tighten all the nuts and bolts. Had to again learn the hard way that it first gets tight, then very tight, then almost impossible to turn and then it becomes very loose again. OK, enough for that.

Now I am working on my rear end again. It is a 9" which came from a '70 Torino. Small Bearing, 10" Brakes, 31-Spline, Nodular Carrier, ... and I wonder about the following:

a. I read about some sort of a seal inside the housing tubes which prevents that gear oil can reach the bearing ? I don't have this. Is it missing or are there 9" without it ?

b. Do I have to grease the bearing or - understanding that I do not have this seal - is the bearing lubricated by the gear oil ?

c. What kinda gasket is needed to seal the rear end ? I heard there's one behind the backing plate and one between backing plate and that bracket or whatever you call it which holds the axle in place. I don't have these, but just bought me some gasket paper and could cut my own. Someone also told me that he just uses RTV silicon. What's right ?

Here are two pix. One shows my axle and one right into the rearend housing.





Help Help Help

Thanx Thanx Thanx

 

Kai,

I'm working from memory here, so someone else will straighten me out if I'm thinking about an axle other than a 9". I've seen some with a tapered roller wheel bearing and some with a permanently lubed bearing. The tapered bearings get lubed by gear oil and the wheel seal is between the bearing and the retainer. It comes out with the axle. The permanently lubed bearings need no additional lubrication and have the wheel seal in the housing. It looks like your bearing is permanently lubed. You'll definitely want to put a seal in there or the back brakes won't last long. The seal books should show one. The seal rides in the machined area just behind the bearing collar. If the axle is used, you should see a wear mark there. Also, I've seen some axles with gaskets behind the retainer and some without. I can't honestly tell you that I know what purpose it serves since the wheel seal bears the responsibility of keeping the oil in the housing. If you don't mind cutting a gasket, that will work just swell, but I think doing nothing and using a little silicone serve the same purpose.

 

Thanx 'Rage, ... I will take a look again tonite. However, I am positive that I did not remove anything from my housing tubes. I also did not have the bearings off these axles either. So all I have (in the pix above) is what was there when I got the truck. I can't recall that there was oil dripping out. So I will probably just use some silicon for now and see how it works.

... but maybe there's someone else who's fiddeling around with his 9" ?!?! and has some additional thoughts for me ?!?!?

 

The axle is removed without the seal comming out. the seal is right at the end of the housing, not a bad idea to replace, it will keep lube away from the backing plate and brakes. Ed ke6bnl

 

Ed, ... not sure to understand. I do not have these seals in the housing tubes as you can see from the pics. The rearend came with these axles and I never removed anything. So maybe all is there and it should work like this, or ...???

 

Ed

The seal arrangement you refer to sounds more like the 8.8 Ford style. Kai doesn;t have that style from his PIC. He has the traditional 9 inch style with the bearing pressed on the axle assembly, with the retaining flange trapped on the axle.

 

Kai,

Your seal should be inside the axle housing and the axle slips in through it. The surface on the axle just in front of the bearing (closer to the rear center) is where the seal lip rides keeping the gear lube away from the bearing. The bearing is permanently sealed and needs no additional lubrication. No gasket is required.

I enlarged your photos and it looks like a seal has been riding on the axle and it looks like a seal may be in your housing. It was hard to tell.

Good luck

 

Kai,
Your instincts are right.
a.) No inner grease seal. Some older Dana axles used an inner seal. My Jeepster's D44 is this way.
b.) Lubed by gear lube spray. Might want to squirt some 90 weight on bearings before axle insertion if paranoid.
c.) Think about how far out the gear lube can travel before encountering the axle seal. Every seam upstream needs to be sealed. RTV became the all-purpose sealer when OEM started substituting a tube of RTV at the parts counter in place of stocking a zillion axle housing gaskets. Works fine. Be aware that in some precision machined components the gasket thickness is necessary for proper fit. But not here.
Hang in there Kai, you're doin' great.
Adios,
Brett

 

Good stuff. Thanx. Unfortunately my doc has told me to pause a few days. I hammered a screw driver into my left hand and after a few days of doing nothing I finally went to the doctor. He put me out of service for a while. Guess the old saying "if it does not kill you right away it will only make you stronger". Hmm. BS.

I will get back to you guys in two weeks time. Guess I won't be able to do serious work on the truck till then.

Cheers !!!

 

Don't you hate it when that happens?
I REALLY hate it when that happens.
Speaking of universal truths, why didn't the great philosophers snap to this stuff? Think of how much more applicable high school would have been had they taught you:
Or:
Amen brother.