Dana 44 inner seal and Zerk question

I am in the process of rebuilding the rear dana 44 in my "intermediate" CJ5 project. In the tear down I have found that the older dana 44s have an inner seal that keeps gear oil out of the bearing grease. The older dana 44s use good 'ol grease to lube the axle bearings. My 97 TJ has a dana 44 but the outer bearing is lubed by the diff gear oil. My question is do I need the inner seal and can i just let the gear oil lube the bearing like on the newer TJ? I know scout Dana 44s came both ways. I am not sure if it is worth putting in the inner seal. Also, if I do go with the stock inner seal I may install a zerk fitting to allow easy greasing. Is this a good idea? BTW... this is going to be a trail rig and it may see some moderate mud...

Any advice is greatly appreciated.


Happy Jeep'n