Leaking Wheel Seal

[dale farley]

I pulled my wheels this morning to check everything before I leave for a long trip this weekend, and I see I have a significant oil leak around the axle. I have never pulled one of these before, and I am wondering if there are any tips that anyone has. I see the leak is behind that outside hub, so I assume I need to remove that axle, the large nuts behind it and the bearings. I assume it is the inner seal that is leaking.

[dale farley]

I had to release the emergency brake to remove the brake drum. Can I engage the brake again now that I have the drum off, or will that cause the shoes to expand too far? I'm not sure if he emergency brake actually expands the shoes????

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Dale, we forgot to talk about that. Cage the emergency brake becauase you will get overtravel on the slack adjuster and it may do some damage, likely to the springs or may push the "s" cam too far.

[hhoppe]

Dale please recall my sad experiance when the seal was replaced by a DD repair shop and the bearing was put back in dry of any lubricant. In ten miles it seized uo , broke the axel and required a major repair by the axel surgeons. The bearing only receives it's lubrication from the differential and if assembled dry without pre-lubbing or tilting the bus prior to hitting the road will be disaster. There was a previous post describing sequence of assembly and tightening the bearing nut, it will be helpful to review. Lew had a similar experiance to mine and I hear it's all too common. Good Luck

[dale farley]

Jon-Harry,
Thanks for your input. I put grease on the bearings and pumpd oil over them. I also pumped the cavity full of oil until it ran out before I installed the outer wheel bearing. I will also tilt the axle so the oil will run into that side. Hopefully, everything will be okay.

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Dale, did you use the Stemco seal and nut, or did you stay with the tanged lock washer and nut and standard seal?

JIM

[dalej]

Dale,

When I work on any of my axles, I keep the emergency brake released so I can keep any of the braking action from getting in the way.

I have my bus on stands, so I don't worry about it rolling.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Do you back off the slack adjuster Dale J? Or do you cage the brakes?

[dale farley]

Jim, I used the same seal that was on on the bus. I am not sure if it was original or not. It looks like the parts manual shows a two piece seal, but the one I used was a one-piece. The invoice says CR Scotseal.

I didn't set the emergency brake after I pulled the brake drum. I scotched the wheels so it couldn't roll. First time I actually used the X12 wrench to torque the nuts after I removed/installed them with a 1" air wrench.

The most useful tool I used today was the wheel dolly I purchased from Northern or Harbor Freight for $39.95. It made removing and installing the wheels a breeze. With one hand, you can roll the wheel into place, raise it up or down and rotate it so it lines up with the studs. I fought with the wheels the last time using a pry bar to position them.

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Sounds like you had a fun day.

JIM