Thread: Rear wheel bearings

So ive gone for oil filled bearings in the rear after some great advice. Last weekend we changed my brothers wheel bearings(timken bearings same brand as mine) in his 300tdi disco but we used grease and standard seals, including rubber end caps. We both do very similar driving, in the same sort of conditions So it will be an interesting experiment to see who has least issues or whos bearings remain in better condition. Might take awhile to get any results though, hopefully anyways.

Thanks for all comments.

Learned a few things...

I do have a problem with grease. There is no prescribed amount of grease to be applied. I am not sure if I am over pack the hub or severely over pack the hub with grease. I know this will result in high running temperature and reduced lubricity

So with the oil lub system, is contamination from hub to diff a concern?
Or if the upgraded metal drive flange cap is used with the upgraded hub seal, hub contamination is minimised?

Cheers

I run mine oil, right through, front and rear. Some guys like to seperate the fronts and still run oil. Some swivel housings still have a drain or fill point ??

I fill the rear the LR service amount and then guess a bit more. Jack up the wheel and let it run some into the other end. Reverse repeat. For the fronts I have drilled and tapped the drive flange. I use a old school oil can and fill the hub after filling the diff the LR service amount.

I have the Maxidrive drive fanges (axles, lockers and custom cvs) a little teflon thread tape on the cap just to be sure for me

No exacts there but it seems to be fine so far.

Plenty of info on different ways guys do it on AULRO. Pick the one that makes you feel right

I have been running 60 cc for years, after running 80 cc for years, if you fill the hubs up the oil will leak through the seals or or pop off the rubber hubcaps when it expands, the hubs will run hotter.

Its easy to check the hub oil level, can put your hand on the hub after driving, (no heavy breaking), yes,= all good, -have oil on your rim ? no -its all good. But if you want technical rotate the drain plug to 4 o"clock position and some oil should come out. If i'm concerned there might be water in the hub I rotate it down to 6 o clock and drain some oil out to check, if the oil comes out "clean and bright", I rotate back to 3.30 or 4 o'clock and fill until it over flows. I can say that since using the county seal and going to oil filled, ( seal part number given earlier by another member) I have never found water in my hubs. I think the original defender hub seal is second class , I wouldn't fit one no mater what I was putting in my hubs.

The oil filled hub is oil bath lube , the oil spins with the hubs and the rollers roll through it, and the seals are always wet.

My car has original LR front axles, drive flanges, CVs, all oil filled. 220,000 kms, oil filling will benefit any LR car with any drive line component configuration. As mentioned earlier in this post and my earlier posts i have noticed the swivels seals are leaking slowly, there's a slow migration of oil from the swivels into the diff. But since my swivels have an oil level indicator plug its about 20 minutes to check and top up the level each year. ( drain a bit out of the bottom to check for water and top up to the correct level)

The wheel end splines and drive flanges will last forever if you put a teaspoon of grease in the rubber hubcap every year, I still do this even though my hubs are oil filled. ( maybe not the late model ones they seem to have a QA problem)

Regarding the rubber hub caps, I have never had a problem with them leaking, except when they get to about 5 years old, then they crack and start to leak slowly, but since they cost $8 i can live with that, and always have a spare or two in the car. i only use the genuine LR part and don't use any sealant on them, if you have oil filled hubs and there's oil leaking from the rubber hub cap it maybe there's too much oil in the hub, 80 mls is plenty. Easy to put in using a $1 plastic syringe from the chemist

The LR drive flange pictured below is drilled through and tapped 1/8" gas, its a fine thread tapered plug.The tap is not expensive, ( but buy a good one HSS, the drive flange is fairly tough material), and the plugs are cheap and easy to get at plumbing or engineering supplies. i use thread tape on them, but if you don't have any at the time its not a problem they seal without it.
The drive flange and axle pictures are original 1995, 220,000 kms, and I would say almost perfect condition. I didn't remove the seal from the swivel housing because i was too lazy.

I can't remember when i changed those bearings. Grease filled hub bearings have a big disadvantage, you can only lubricate the inside bearing by removing the hub, the grease will not flow there from the outside, the inside bearing is the one that is most vulnerable to contamination and fails the most in my experience. As mentioned oil filled has the disadvantage that when your seals go it will leak out, its usually obvious to you when they leak, you'll see the oil on your rim. I have replaced a couple of seals in the last 15 years, (100,000 km), but they were damaged because the wheel bearings were a little loos and the wheel was "rocking" in the stub axle.

cheers simmo

Did LR change the fill point on rear axles, at diff, when they went from oil feed to grease? Did the capacity change? That would be my first point of call as we know at that point in time the housings did not change.

As far as filling the hubs up, you arent going to be able to physically fill the "hubs" up.