For the guys who have converted to oil lubed hubs........

[jimbo110]

Just a quick heads up.
When I did my salisbury shave I converted to oil lubed hubs, changed the hub seals to oil seals and removed the seal in the stub axle that runs on the half shaft, greased the wheel bearings and filled the diff with oil as normal. Since then I have done a few 4WD trips, probably 10-12 hrs of off roading in river beds etc, leaning the truck over a bit more than normal to get the oil to flow into the hubs. Today I pulled the half shafts to check the oil was flowing and no, not a drop of oil has migrated to the hubs. I greased my bearings as normal, but the part I'm worried about is if someone has only lightly greased theirs expecting the oil to fill up and lube the hubs. This may only be a salisbury problem also as the rover axle will slosh oil down the axle tube, where as the salisbury wont, to get down the tubes it must get past the diff carrier bearings, and then when it reaches the stub axle it must pool up enough (about 3/4" deep) to be able to run down the stub axle tube to the hub. It will only need to do this once, because once it's in the hub it cant get out again. To try to get around this I have slightly over filled the diff and parked it for about 10 mins on either side on the greatest side slope I could find without rolling the truck. Hopefully now some oil has made it to the hubs! I would hate to think someone has a wheel bearing seize over christmas because of lack of lubrication.:(

[rick130]

When I first converted I jacked the axles up enough to get oil down the axle tubes and kept topping up the diff before I drove it.
With a Solid (nee Rockcrusher) cover I just overfill the diff with the high set filler plug :D

[jimbo110]

When I first converted I jacked the axles up enough to get oil down the axle tubes and kept topping up the diff before I drove it.
With a Solid (nee Rockcrusher) cover I just overfill the diff with the high set filler plug :D
Yeah, I just jacked the drivers side wheel off the ground to over fill the diff, I don't want to do it for too long though, the pinion seal will be the next thing! I also checked the breather tube, bloody thing was blocked solid with rust in the banjo fitting, had to drill out the rust.:(

[rick130]

<snip>
I also checked the breather tube, bloody thing was blocked solid with rust in the banjo fitting, had to drill out the rust.:(

yep, been there, done that, blew the drives side hub seal and soaked a pair of new pads when I first did it years ago ......

[justinc]

I always overfill to accomodate this mod when first done. Good idea to bring it up!:)

BTW, Is that your 'cuda??:D

JC

[mox]

Seems to me the first problem with grease filled hubs is that the splines between stub axles and drive hubs become dry, then wear and strip themselves rapidly - probably long before any problems from dry bearings. The rear left one on my Defender did 40,000 km from new but other three splines still had some grease on and were OK.

I bought some hub oil seals and bored and tapped the secondhand replacement standard hub and installed quarter inch BSP plug - for intended purpose of filling hub with oil.

Haven't got around to doing any more. Don't see the need anyway. All I do now is occasionally pull off the plastic axle caps, half fill them with heavy extreme pressure oil /grease concoction and slap them back on. Keeps the splines lubricated and the bit that works its way through the spline should keep the wheel bearing grease soft. Not enough to cause any leakage onto brake linings to date and if it did, is not a large amount of oil to potentially leak out as when seals around half shafts are removed.

Looks to me that if everyone with grease hubs just adopted this practice, mechanical problems would be greatly reduced with very little work. It does increase a cosmetic one a bit though with a bit of oil seep onto the wheels from the not very well sealing plastic axle caps.

[VladTepes]

How does this differ from the Maxidrive set up ?

[jimbo110]

I always overfill to accomodate this mod when first done. Good idea to bring it up!:)

BTW, Is that your 'cuda??:D

JC
Hell no, the closest thing I've had to that was my '73 VJ Charger, that I wish I never sold :wallbash::(

[leyland]

hi jimbo my series 3 salisbury is oil lubricated i dont know wether it is supposed to be or not. I didnt like this having owned toyotas for several years, when i changed the drive flanges i drove the s3 up the car ramps on a hill with the rear as hi as i could get it filled the said diff up to over fill doesnt leak from the pinion shaft or the axles and i often carry over 500kg no problems yet with bearings not yet anyway thanks from leyland

[rick130]

All Series Rovers used oil lubed hubs/wheel bearings, right up to the Tdi Defenders where they went to grease and crappy (IMO) hub seals that don't seal anything in or out (read water).

One of the major advantages in pulling the axle tube seal and letting the oil flow freely in Tdi and later Defender's/Disco's is using the far superior RTC3511 hub seal which is double lipped and spring energised.

FWIW a lot of heavy trucks use oil instead of grease in their wheel bearings/hubs as they run quite a bit cooler and last longer than greased bearings.

[sclarke]

I have always jacked the short axle side up and over filled it....