any one tried oil bath hubs on their 2wd?

[kryptonitecb]

wow, and I was going to ask if anybody has packed their oil bath bearings on their full float sterlings with extreme pressure grease.........????????

I rebuilt a 14 bolt and put grease in not thinking about the oil. Everything worked out fine in the end. I wouldn't recommend it but you can if you want.

Sent from the road while ignoring traffic

 

[4x4junkie]

For a 2wd it wouldn't, for a 4wd it would greatly.

How so??

http://www.therangerstation.com/Magazine/Dec 05/offroad.htm
OT, I know, but...

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

I rebuilt a 14 bolt and put grease in not thinking about the oil. Everything worked out fine in the end. I wouldn't recommend it but you can if you want.

Sent from the road while ignoring traffic

Whenever I put together a full floater I always lightly grease the bearings just because of how long it can take for the oil to get down the tube and into the hub. Cheap insurance over scorched bearings.

 

[CHKNFKR]

on the OTR trucks and trailers I've worked on I've always lightly packed the bearings as sasquatch described. on the rears most hubs have a provision for filling the hub rather than the old fashioned fill, jack up one side, fill, jack up the other side, fill method. for the fronts and trailers where you don't have a differential, i have always mixed 4:1 75w90 and ATF. adding the ATF significantly increases the service life of the bearings and keeps the seals soft and swollen.

FWIW the above info was published in the U.S. Army's PS Preventative Maintenance Monthly magazine, It's not just some cockamamie BS I made up.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

Didnt get to do it this weekend but heres a teaser pic

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

on the OTR trucks and trailers I've worked on I've always lightly packed the bearings as sasquatch described. on the rears most hubs have a provision for filling the hub rather than the old fashioned fill, jack up one side, fill, jack up the other side, fill method. for the fronts and trailers where you don't have a differential, i have always mixed 4:1 75w90 and ATF. adding the ATF significantly increases the service life of the bearings and keeps the seals soft and swollen.

FWIW the above info was published in the U.S. Army's PS Preventative Maintenance Monthly magazine, It's not just some cockamamie BS I made up.

I like the sound of blending the atf with the 75w90, it makes sense and should keep things clean being that atf is high in detergents. Definately worth a try since im only working with less than a quart between the 2 hubs.

 

[CHKNFKR]

whats the word?

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

despite the early morning rains i did manage to rotate my tires and change out the bearings and install the oil bath hubs. i took my truck for a 2 mile test run in hopes that if it leaked i would be able to catch it before it did irreversible damage, but as i had hoped all went well.

im running the wheels with no center caps so i can keep an eye on the oil levels incase one of the seals starts to leak, i drive 80 miles a day to work so chances are if something goes wrong and i dont catch the noise in time i will be sitting on the side of the road waiting for the tow truck but so far (12 miles) i have no leaks and the levels are dead even with the bottom of the holes.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

So after approximately 60 miles the only sign of oil outside of the hubs is this little bit that i believe slung off from the fill plug, so im going to try to add some atf to both hubs to see if that swells up the rubber a bit. I should have added it when i initially filled them but i was unsure how much they would take so i skipped that step. Ill keep updating this thread until i reach a final conclusion on this experiment.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

subscribed

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Your tires are not that much oversized... I occasionally repack mine but the only time I replace them is when I replace the rotors.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

I agree theyre not that large when compared to what some other guys are rolling on but the difference between a 30lb tire and wheel and a 60 lb tire and wheel is quite noticeable, especially in the stopping fast department. I think a 31 is as big as i would feel safe with having only single piston calipers, plus its only 2wd and my daily driver so 31 should probably be max any ways. I did just add the atf on my lunch break after wicking some 75w90 out with a clean rag, then i wiped off the wheel where the oil sling marks were so ill see how things look when i get home tonight.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I ran 235's (which is what yours look like, I can't make out a size on them) for 11 years on the same bearings and didn't touch them until a brake line fried one caliper. The 31's haven't quite been on a year but the I haven't touch either the new or untouched side for new bearings since, granted the truck has been parked for the last three months...

With 31's it still stoped great with the stock brakes, I don't know if 4x4's got different brakes or not though.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

I know the 4x4 bearings are close to if not the same size inner and outer, where as the inner on a 2wd are twice the size of the outers, which i believe is the reason im having the wear problems. Both of my small outer bearings were burnt and had a nice gold tint to them, while the inners still looked new.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]