There is no wheel bearing grease to be changed. Grease is only necessary if the bearings are somehow dry ( normally after the axles have been taken off to do some work in there ) So unless you are doing work in the hub area there is no need to renew any grease. Draining the axle does not drain the oil in the hub area and therefore does not dry out the wheel bearings.
Can't get diff cover off...
- Thread starter 01rangerxl
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Please forgive my ignorance/newness in this area.
So then as long as there is nothing wrong with the axles/bearings, the rear wheel bearing grease should pretty much last forever? There is oil behind the bearings as well?
My truck has about 80k on it and I was looking to put some fresh grease back there like I have done twice (with brake jobs) on the fronts. Please expound further.
Toward the topic, I also used RTV to reseal the dif. Actually Chrysler dif. stuff that I bought for my Liberty. No problems yet.
Rear wheel bearings, unlike front wheel bearings, are lubricated by the oil in the differential. The ring gear picks up the oil and some of this oil travels to the bearings and keeps them lubricated. Grease if only for initial lubrication after you have somehow drained the hubs of oil, which normally happens when you work on the wheel bearings. There was a post some months ago by a person who does not use grease at all but tips his vehicle to one side and then the other to make sure that there is oil in the hubs. If you do a search you should be able to find that post. To summarize, there is no need for any grease on the rear bearings under normal circumstances. The 18-wheelers you see on the road have oil in their front hubs, not grease.
I might get flamed for this (pun intended), but in really tough situations I've used a propane torch for a bit to loosen up the sealant, then went in with a putty knife and it was like butter. I had to do it once when a transmission cover just wouldn't come off any other way.
As long as you don't go overboard with the heat, no damage should be done since the fluid is being replaced anyway.
As long as you don't go overboard with the heat, no damage should be done since the fluid is being replaced anyway.
One of the tricks with RTV is to coat one of the mating surfaces with a good film of oil before mating the surfaces up. That way they come apart fairly easily. On a diff cover, I'd put the RTV on the cover, and the oil on the diff.
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