GREASED OR OILED WHEEL BEARINGS

Reason being is that the sprung lip needs some oil to lubricate the seal running surface when held against the collar under spring tension. When the outer sprung lip is not in contact with oil, it will quickly wear the shaft. Also the outer sprung lip may be less effective at keeping sand and grit out than a dedicated unsprung wiper lip. Any grit reaching the inner sprung lip will quickly destroy it.

He recommends using a single spring seal with an unsprung dust/mud outer wiper lip. This is still a double lipped seal but only one lip (the internal one) is sprung) It may seem like the sprung outer lip helps to keep oil in but it really does nothing in this regard and may increase collar wear and lead to early failure of the inner lip due to grit entry via the outer lip which is only designed to seal against oil. END QUOTE!


He's so right, the number of times I've had to replace seal sleaves on reduction inputs is stupid, becuse someones smashed 2 seals in or snapped a seal lube line off and run dry, not all seals weep, they should, but they don't. If you pack a gland to tight it is truely a money spinning delight! But this stuff runs hard 24/7, and has a much larger contact area. Twin lip/ sprung seals will burn(more gual with grit really)shafts if the outer runs dry. But anyway, most likley won't happen with general light vehical applications, if those twin lip/ twin spring seals things work for you, topps! Cheap Standard seals for me on my green grease ball!!!

Seals I have used only have one spring for the inner seal that needs to keep the oil in. The outer seal is as said above just a dirt/dust seal. The seal on the grease packed bearings which were in place originally did not have a spring and only had one surface in contact with the stub axle.

Well im thinking i made the right choice, My Disco was greased but when i recently rebuilt the front and rear ends I decided to convert them to oiled even though the original greased bearings seemed to be in very good condition... In saying that I also believe that the old girl had never seen a speck of off road use in its life (thats changed now)... I'll keep and eye on the seals at service intervals and repair as needed.. Oil leaks I can handle but walking miles to get a lift so i can get a new set of wheel bearings and then fit them in the bush I cant.

. . . then carry some wheelbearings with you! I certainly do, though mostly because I'm paranoid.

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The original design would have been oil lubed...

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This quote refers to a Stage I, but they would have been greased from the factory.

I rebuilt some Stage I hubs and used oil and they leaked very soon after, and this was with brand new genuine stub axles and the proper seals and so on. Somehow, oil kept getting into the hubs until they were overfull and then the hub seals couldn't take any more. Luckily, I had put in some oil catchers so the oil didn't ruin the also brand new brake shoes. I got so annoyed I just put grease in. I'd put some brass plugs into the hub flanges to check the levels and it didn't take long to get too high.

The difference with the Series stuff is that there isn't a seal to keep the swivel pin oil out of the hub, so it will get in there anyway. When I've had greased bearings and taken them apart later on there's always a nice greasy-oily mix in there. The only Series exception to this is the Stage I, where there's a little seal in the stub axle, so I just left this out.

The last time I did some hubs it was on the Rangie and I used grease, but also this tool: LRT-54-501 from here: Dingocroft (Penn Rental Service Ltd t/a) Other tools

Used with a little hydraulic press, it was worth every cent!

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Originally Posted by Davo

. . . then carry some wheelbearings with you! I certainly do, though mostly because I'm paranoid.

This quote refers to a Stage I, but they would have been greased from the factory.

I rebuilt some Stage I hubs and used oil and they leaked very soon after, and this was with brand new genuine stub axles and the proper seals and so on. Somehow, oil kept getting into the hubs until they were overfull and then the hub seals couldn't take any more. Luckily, I had put in some oil catchers so the oil didn't ruin the also brand new brake shoes. I got so annoyed I just put grease in. I'd put some brass plugs into the hub flanges to check the levels and it didn't take long to get too high.

The difference with the Series stuff is that there isn't a seal to keep the swivel pin oil out of the hub, so it will get in there anyway. When I've had greased bearings and taken them apart later on there's always a nice greasy-oily mix in there. The only Series exception to this is the Stage I, where there's a little seal in the stub axle, so I just left this out.

The last time I did some hubs it was on the Rangie and I used grease, but also this tool: LRT-54-501 from here: Dingocroft (Penn Rental Service Ltd t/a) Other tools

Used with a little hydraulic press, it was worth every cent!

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I have a stage 1 front axle that is oil lubed - no problems. I remove the inner seals so the same oil runs through the diff and swivels.

The stage 1 axle is basically the same as a 110 axle.

If you have problems with oil leaking, then chances are you were using the wrong seals or something was pressurising (blocked breather?).

I rebuilt the axle after enormous amounts of research here and most of that was your information, which included leaving out those seals at the ends of the axle housing, so when they leaked I was mightily confused! And the breather is a long hose with a fuel filter at the end that's never given trouble before - and was checked as well - so that wasn't it.

The only thing was that I didn't have the special tool to press in the seal and was using a Rangie hub flange instead. It sounds like others have had luck with that, or something like it, but maybe the seal didn't get seated properly, though I did check the depth with a vernier gauge. Beats me, but I used grease just to get on with things since it was part of a rebuild into a Stage I spec. (Though I haven't finished it or driven it for months now that I've bought a Rangie. Typical, really.)

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Originally Posted by Davo

I rebuilt the axle after enormous amounts of research here and most of that was your information, which included leaving out those seals at the ends of the axle housing, so when they leaked I was mightily confused! And the breather is a long hose with a fuel filter at the end that's never given trouble before - and was checked as well - so that wasn't it.

The only thing was that I didn't have the special tool to press in the seal and was using a Rangie hub flange instead. It sounds like others have had luck with that, or something like it, but maybe the seal didn't get seated properly, though I did check the depth with a vernier gauge. Beats me, but I used grease just to get on with things since it was part of a rebuild into a Stage I spec. (Though I haven't finished it or driven it for months now that I've bought a Rangie. Typical, really.)

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Very strange... Maybe try fitting breathers to the swivel housings???

FWIW - I have never used a "special tool" or a vernier to fit hub seals.

The CV stubs weren't shimmed up too much behind the circlip were they? (so you go oil into the hub but not back out?).

The hub will fill up with oil to the bottom of the stub axle tube during operation.

It's because it's my Land-Rover that it would leak. :p

They were shimmed a bit on the tight side. Actually, I had to rub down the shims I had - which were all I had - to get some clearance. I could try oil again once everything's bedded in. There are no seals betwixt swivel and hub or axle, so the breather should work. Befuddling.

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Originally Posted by Davo

It's because it's my Land-Rover that it would leak. :p

They were shimmed a bit on the tight side. Actually, I had to rub down the shims I had - which were all I had - to get some clearance. I could try oil again once everything's bedded in. There are no seals betwixt swivel and hub or axle, so the breather should work. Befuddling.

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That could be it. The CVs self centre fairly well. I often leave the shims out completely, just fit the circlip.

Well I was going to bring up the seal in the swivel hubs thing on the stage one, and how would one reliably fill those hubs without fill points? But I don’t think it’s worth the hassle. No doubt oil is the way it’s meant to go, my land rover didn’t come with a manual, and I don’t worry about getting one, they are a simple machine. Even though I killed a gearbox by putting the wrong oil in it, the best way to learn is by giving it a go!! Personally I would not fit breathers to the swivel hubs, it’s not part of the design, why would it need them if tens of thousands of these units worked well, and introduces another weak point, but that’s just the way I think. Yes a little oil still seeps in and makes the grease nice and runny! No, I don't carry a spare set of wheel bearings, I get more trouble from faulty capacitors, get the big champion GMH ones, not the little ”listed” Bosh ones!