Grease all over rear drum

[Ball4226]

Morning y’all,

I was going to take a look at the brakes on my truck today just to see how everything is wearing and I found grease all over my passenger side shoes and drum.

I had the rear brakes done last summer with all new hardware and they replaced the axle seals as well.

I’ve read that some guys pack the bearings before putting them back in and some don’t. Could this be the result of the shop not cleaning the brakes before putting everything back together or a leaking seal, again.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Ball4226]

Pictures

 

[JR]

That looks like gear oil to me, not grease. Looks like you've got a defective seal. Looks like it's been leaking a while so you might want to show the shop that did the work your pictures and see what they say. A year plus is a long time to honor a warranty job but unless you have put a LOT of miles on since the repair there's no way the seal should be leaking on a proper job. Maybe they'll work with you on that.

FYI, Dana recommends packing the bearings with #2 grade grease, so I'd insist your shop do so if they aren't.

 

[Ball4226]

Thanks for the reply.

Yeah I was thinking it was gear oil too but when I was trying to clean up that mess I found that most of it was grease. It felt the same as the grease that you’d pack ball joints and what not with.

Also found out the shop that did it provides a warranty for their work, I’ve only put about 25k since the job was done.

I’ll find out more next week and give an update.

Thanks again

 

[NIsaacs]

Gear oil turns to grease when it mixes with dirt/brake dust.

 

[Stox5225]

^ I was going to say the same thing.

 

[mwilson]

Gear oil for sure.....a gooey fur ball..

Leaking seal...

 

[GAmes]

Packing the bearings during installation is for initial operation. The grease is dissolved and consumed by the gear oil in a short period of time. Therefore, there isn't a source for grease, has to be gear oil.

 

[Ozymandias]

Gear oil turns to grease when it mixes with dirt/brake dust.

Exactly, add some heat and there is the grease.
I had once an engine oil pan filled with half a gallon of it.

 

[fest3er]

Leaky seal. I had mine replaced a bunch of years ago. They leaked fairly quickly. Later, I replaced one or the other. I over-torqued it, mmm, 10-20 ft-lb, then backed off an 1/8" on the outer edge. Hasn't leaked since.

The trick may be to over-tighten a little beyond the max of the range, then loosen a bit. There are a couple posts about this from, oh, 10 years ago.

 

[Ball4226]

Thanks for all of the info guys!

Love this forum.

 

[JR]

Gear oil turns to grease when it mixes with dirt/brake dust.

Nah, it's still gear oil. Just a lot thicker and grittier.

 

[NIsaacs]

Lard or shortening, maybe?

 

[JR]

Lard or shortening, maybe?

I was thinking along the lines of hand cleaner, you know the kind with pumice or whatever they use that gives it that gritty texture to help scrub the gunk off.

Imagine a hand cleaner with an automotive scent...diesel maybe. That could sell!

 

[Cooper_D]

If it was shortening that truck would be the size of a Dakota by now

 

[Joe Mc]

Had same thing happen years back, probably 2004/5-ish? Re-leak ended up being a bit of a blemish on the rubber seal to axel sealing surface, smoothed out with strips of progressive sandpaper = 220 up to 1500, ended with a wet/dry 1500 (used WD40) and then cleaned the seal to tube surfaces real good, adding a bit of Black Permatex to the tube surface before installing the seal.

 

[Ball4226]

Got it back from the shop today and everything was fixed under warranty. Exactly like Joe said, there was a small amount of rust left where the bearing rides and they also think the last shop installed the bearing incorrectly. They also found that the rear brakes were installed wrong with right stamped equipment on the left and vise versa. The mechanic that worked on it said I had been lucky to be able to stop.

Long story short, the last shop that worked on it didnt do anything right with any part of the rear axle they touched!

 

[gcorron]

My brother bought my truck new in 97, he was a major Bow Tie guy and I told him when he got tired of it, I wanted it! It took awhile because he gave it to his son to drive for a few years, but in 01, I finally stole it from him.
He was a demon about maintenance, but so am I. When I got it, I went over everything with a fine tooth comb.
A few weeks later, I'm smelling grease, hot grease. Coming from the rear.
Yep, seal went bad, it looked exactly like your picture. I replaced the seal, and since the brakes were slightly worn, I replaced both sides, which is my habit anyway. All good.
Two weeks later...………..the other seal cut loose! Figures. Never had a reason to cuss Dana before, but others on this forum clued me into it being a fairly common problem. Let's say I became an expert in replacing the seal!!!
Glad to hear you got yours fixed.
George