oil lubed wheel bearing question

[weeds]

how much oil should end up in the hub? i'm talking rear hubs

i converted mine eight years ago when i fitted maxi axles........its been a long time since the passenger side has been removed and i got maybe 50mm-100mm, the drivers side had none at all, MR replaced a wheel stud maybe four/five months ago

all the grease in the bearings looked in good nick, bearings in good nick

i did check to make sure an axle seal hasn't magically appeared, using a tourch i could not see a seal and the maxi drive axle had no signs of seals marks

i check diff level and it was slightly over filled

i not overly concerned as i re-packed the new wheel bearings with grease and should be all good for the next 5 years, if oil makes it way there all good otherwise the grease will do just fine

i just expected and oily mess when i pulled the hub off........as i had a plastic container under to catch the oil

i remember i fitted the maxi axle the night before leaving on my simpson trip and my dad thought i was bonkers as after a few hundred k's i drove into some colverts to put the defender on a lean so oil would track arcoss to the hubs

[460cixy]

There's never heaps in there but always enough to make a mess maybe 200mil or so

[uninformed]

I cant answer your question, but I am curious as to why you grease the bearings if they are ment to be running in oil???

all things being in good working order, and you only have the seal that is on the stub axle/inside of hub, then oil should be lubing the bearings fine and the drive flange/axle shaft splines.

btw, what were you doing to check the oil level? did you have the axle dead level? was it jacked up on one side?.....when I did my hub seal, I jacked up the side that needed doing. This was enough to have only a small amount drip out under repair.

[weeds]

no mess, and now that i think about it it would have been at best 50mm, grease in tact in bearings

[460cixy]

Seems funny to me I always grease the bearings before fitting to give them some lubrication before the oil gets in there and every time it's been pulled down the grease has been washed away as expected Was the old seal fully removed or was it just butchered up with a screw driver I have seen this in the past .

[blue_mini]

I always grease up my bearings and cvs for the front before I put them in. Paid off for me as I accidentally went for a test drive before I filled the oil up. I figure a bit more lubricant in there is no bad thing.

[uninformed]

true, and it seems to have saved weeds if he had no oil in one side. I havent greased mine, I lube them good with the diff oil I use.....I tend to over oil things rather than under :(

[rick130]

I've only ever used straight oil too, but do admit to putting the old girl almost on it's side trying to get some oil down the tubes when first done :lol2:

OK, on its side is an exageration but I've had he axle on some pretty good leans. :D

I haven't had too much drain out on the one or two times I've had the drive flanges off, but there's no wear and things keep going round and round and have done for ten years now.

[weeds]

Seems funny to me I always grease the bearings before fitting to give them some lubrication before the oil gets in there and every time it's been pulled down the grease has been washed away as expected Was the old seal fully removed or was it just butchered up with a screw driver I have seen this in the past .

seals fully removed.......it doesn't take much extra to remove the stub


true, and it seems to have saved weeds if he had no oil in one side. I havent greased mine, I lube them good with the diff oil I use.....I tend to over oil things rather than under :(

well it has me beat that there is no oil there...........by rights there should be, i reckon the passenger side has done 150 000km since i last had the hub off

[schuy1]

Got Maxi drive axles and hubs on rear about 10 years ago and converted to oil lubed( pulled the inner seals) and yes I found that with standard oil level in the diff the drivers bearing will not get lubed! I add at least 500ml extra to get it to do the job. I suspect the road camber is not letting the oil slosh up the tube enough , plus the oil bung level is low as factory it is not required to lube the bearings. So in summery as Rick says add extra and all is good
Cheers Scott

[weeds]

Got Maxi drive axles and hubs on rear about 10 years ago and converted to oil lubed( pulled the inner seals) and yes I found that with standard oil level in the diff the drivers bearing will not get lubed! I add at least 500ml extra to get it to do the job. I suspect the road camber is not letting the oil slosh up the tube enough , plus the oil bung level is low as factory it is not required to lube the bearings. So in summery as Rick says add extra and all is good
Cheers Scott

Good points re: camber

Wil have to park facing down a hill to overfill the diff

[460cixy]

Well if it has not failed in 150,000 it's not going to I guess but I must say I have not looked at the filler plug in relation to the axel tube so maybe a bit of extra oil down the tube before fitting the axel might be the ticket just jack one Side up so the tube is the highest point and tip it in wouldn't go over bored tho

[rick130]

Good points re: camber

Wil have to park facing down a hill to overfill the diff


I used to jack whatever side was the same side as the filler hole up to overfill the diff, but since installing the big cast diff cover with the high mount filler six or seven years ago it's dead easy to add another 1/2 to 1 litre.
I'm pretty sure the last time I filled the diff I added 3.5 litres.

[460cixy]

A bit more would have to help in warmer weather too

[roverrescue]

Now I am almost certain that by suggesting this the sky WILL fall in....

When ever I have converted to oiled bearings, I drill a 5mm hole between the bearing races of the stub axle on the underside.

Most likely unnecessary but I figure it will get oil to the inner bearing much more efficiently than having to work its way there. I also lightly pre-grease the races before install.

(Funny, just as I type this it has started flogging down with rain - perhaps the sky is going to fall???)

Anyways, never had a drama with poor lube. I have a feeling in the old Maxidrive installation instructions this was a recommendation but it was so long ago that I first did it I cant remember?

Steve

[weeds]

Now I am almost certain that by suggesting this the sky WILL fall in....

When ever I have converted to oiled bearings, I drill a 5mm hole between the bearing races of the stub axle on the underside.

Most likely unnecessary but I figure it will get oil to the inner bearing much more efficiently than having to work its way there. I also lightly pre-grease the races before install.

(Funny, just as I type this it has started flogging down with rain - perhaps the sky is going to fall???)

Anyways, never had a drama with poor lube. I have a feeling in the old Maxidrive installation instructions this was a recommendation but it was so long ago that I first did it I cant remember?

Steve

if maxi instruction suggested drilling a hole than i would have therefore i don't th ink it was in my instructions

after not having any oil in the hubs i thought a hole in the stub would assist but the outer bearings grease was still in tact so the oil is not getting to the outside bearing even........maybe fully greasing them is stopping the oil transferring through the bearings?

[Xtreme]

...........

When ever I have converted to oiled bearings, I drill a 5mm hole between the bearing races of the stub axle on the underside..........................

Steve

I only drill a 3mm hole, I oil but don't grease bearings while fiting, don't bother with overfilling diff (after initial top up) and havent had a wheel bearing or axle/drive member spline problem since first doing the oil lube conversions almost 20 years ago.
I don't experience much oil draining from hub when checking but put this down to the fact that the side being checked is usually jacked up higher than the other side.

One point to watch though when running oil lubed wheel bearings is that if your diff oil becomes contaminated (maybe as a result of water crossings or the like) then it's wise to drain and check/service the wheel bearings as well as the diff.