Anyone have experience with rear axle bearings and seals?

[JDubien]

I probably have a worse case scenario. I've had a right rear seal leaking issue since new and has been replaced 4 times in 100k miles. It turns out the spindle was bent just enough for the seal to wear and leak in short periods of time. Funny thing is it was bent forward and down. The shop says to be bent that direction is nearly impossible from typical use and likely came that way from the factory. I ended up having the axle housing replaced as it seemed safer than cutting and welding a new spindle for alignment purposes.

 

[jelag]

I've got to get my 2 cents worth in here... with proper care... these bearing should go the life of the truck... I used to keep trucks for 500K miles before I traded, and would often trade without ever having the rear end apart... If we had to take the back apart we'd pull the hub and set it on a bench and using a driver we'd drive the back bearing and seal out with a driver... . On my own trucks I've reused seals after inspection...

We'd clean all the parts, lube it bearings back up with grease to supply lubrication before the oil reached it... . set the bearings up... and check the oil level...

I can't remember the last time I bought a bearing in either the Dodges or the Fords...

 

[leadvilleram]

I had my passenger side rear brake caliper stick going down the pass the other day. The pads were literally smoking when I got to Home Depot to grab a few things. The heat build-up from that incident damaged the pads and seal, allowed some gear oil into the parking brake drum and made a big mess of the e-brake shoes. New rear seals, rotors, calipers, pads and e-brake shoes for me. Just waiting for the miller hub nut socket to show up. Smells like burnt brakes in my garage right now. .



There is a paper gasket between the axle flange and hub to answer a question I saw back a few posts.

 

[Crunch]

I've got to get my 2 cents worth in here... with proper care... these bearing should go the life of the truck... I used to keep trucks for 500K miles before I traded, and would often trade without ever having the rear end apart... If we had to take the back apart we'd pull the hub and set it on a bench and using a driver we'd drive the back bearing and seal out with a driver... . On my own trucks I've reused seals after inspection...



We'd clean all the parts, lube it bearings back up with grease to supply lubrication before the oil reached it... . set the bearings up... and check the oil level...



I can't remember the last time I bought a bearing in either the Dodges or the Fords...

This is the first time I have ever had a problem with rear bearings/seals on any vehicle I have owned. I went ahead and had the bearings replaced because I have 200K on the clock, and since the seals on both sides were leaking pretty badly I wanted to be safe rather than sorry. I didn't know if any particulates could have infiltrated the axle and because it was all exposed to replace the seals anyway I figured for a little more $$ I could be assured that the bearings will last another 200K. One thing I found out that I didn't know was that these trucks have a separate drum brake for a parking brake in addition to the disc brakes for stopping. Both an interesting fact and nice to know if I'm ever in a runaway downhill situation while illegally pulling a 20,000lb trailer... :-laf