I’m getting ready for the summer trip, going over all the usual things. I discovered a frozen locking hub, of course frozen in the locked position. Also the axle stub shaft bearing isn’t shot, but it’s in less than favorable condition. It is intact, but rusty and dry. The hub was all rust powder as well. The wheel bearing itself feels pretty good so I’m not planning on changing that. I’m having trouble finding the shaft bearing and seal for the back side of the stub shaft.

Also wondering if it would be a good idea to put a grease fitting in place of the vacuum line in the hub.

Edit: I did get a number off the bearing, B-2110. I can have that here in a few days, but is it better to just replace the whole wheel bearing, or is changing the small bearing acceptable?

 

There are several write ups on the R&R in the tech folder. IMHO, if the stub bearing and hub were that dry and rusty, youre asking for problems if you just dont replace the whole wheel hub assy when you're in there. The seals are not cheap, and the vacuum seal is not reusable. Also do a good eval on your axle shaft universal and ball joints too. DOsent sound like there was much attention given to the greaseable areas.
As I recall, the vacuum fitting port does not hit the wheel bearing area. this port needs to be relatively free from grease if youre planning on keeping the ESOF .
RIffraff Diesel makes a grease fitting adapter to put in place of your front wheel abs sensor to lube the front wheel bearings. As far as hitting the stub shaft bearing.... pulling it apart is the only way to do it right. there's no way to force grease into it.

 

The little bearing on the stub shaft can and should be greased periodically (annually?). You’ll remove the locking hub, snap ring and thrust washers, then use a grease needle to push grease along the stub shaft to the bearing area.

Technically you ‘can’ cram enough grease into the vacuum ports to get grease in this area, but it’s inefficient because it’s not a direct path and will be extremely messy when you have to take it apart later.

If the stub shaft is compromised where the bearing rides, it will result in short bearing life. I often find the stub shaft needs to be replaced.

The vacuum seal/knuckle seal is responsible for centering the axle in the knuckle and as it wears it allows the axle(s) to droop. When loose enough, the axles can bind in the locking hub and will spin even with hubs unlocked. When they spin, they can do a jump rope action and carnage follows as stuff gets beat up.

If you’re that far in (axles removed), I would strongly consider replacing the vacuum seals/knuckle seals and give the ball joints a good look - because you’re minutes away from changing them at this point.

DEFINITELY fill the unit bearings with grease through the ABS sensor hole. I do this to every truck I have the rotors off of every time. The Riffraff or @ArmyLifer tool is great, but we did it with just a grease gun for years before the tool was developed. Every failed unit bearing Ive seen was DRY. I’ve installed many ‘cheap’ unit bearings and seen them run 100’s of 1000’s of miles with periodic greasing.

Ive put WARN and Mile Marker hubs in lots of these trucks when the factory locking hubs become a problem.

 

I had all this apart 2 years ago when I bought the truck and replaced the ball joints. It already has manual hubs. If memory serves correctly, I changed the bearing on the other side at that time. This one looks like it could be the original.

Any suggestions on a good seal, that’s one of the things I’m having trouble locating.

 

If memory serves, I recall that replacing only the needle bearing has met with limited success. You are better off replacing the entire unit bearing. The actual wheelbearing cannot be in great shape if the needle bearing is rusty and dry.

 

So my needle bearing was not rusty and dry, it was rusty and has that thick dirt paste like grease leftovers on it. The dry rust dust came out of the outermost part of the bearing assembly when I took off the manual locking hub. The locking hub is seized in the lock position and terrible looking. The wheel bearing feels and sounds good.

At this point, I have ordered a kit to replace all the seals, thrust washers and needle bearings for both sides, a new stub shaft for the problem side, and a set of manual locking hubs. I will grease the bearings through the abs hole on both sides.

 

I use Ventures Truck Parts for Spicer parts to do this job. They have an eBay store with ‘kits’ for the various scenarios. They also sell stub shafts with vacuum seal on it so you don’t need special tool to install seal.