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Rear Tapered D44 Wheel Bearings

Buildflycrash

Buildflycrash

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Jun 5, 2007
Hi all, every year before our Colorado trip I repack all my wheel bearings. Front D30 goes pretty quick but getting into the rear tapered 44 is always a pretty big project.
Seems every year the grease is washed out of the bearing and its just oily. Am I missing the seal in the pumpkin or is this normal?
Thanks for your input.
Scott B
 
There should be an inner seal on each side. Those bearings should not need repacking for many years.
It's hard to see, but #33 in the cross section (not the exploded diagram) shows the inner seal.

Sometimes these are omitted, thinking the axle fluid will lubricate the wheel bearing, but that's not how it's designed to work.
Here's what it should look like.
 
Last edited:
dnb71R2 said:
There should be an inner seal on each side. Those bearings should not need repacking for many years.
It's hard to see, but #33 in the cross section (not the exploded diagram) shows the inner seal.

Sometimes these are omitted, thinking the axle fluid will lubricate the wheel bearing, but that's not how it's designed to work.
Here's what it should look like.
Click to expand...
Those diagrams are incomplete as they don’t show the outer seal used with tapered axles. There are two different styles. One that bolts on behind the axle endplay shims and a style that is used with the metal grease “cup” and seals on the axle hub. I prefer the former as in my experience they last longer and seal better. I’ve heard both that they are used later and I’ve heard they are aftermarket only. Don’t know, just that the former works best for me.
 
Weren't there grease zerks on the tapered axle housings for the bearings? Maybe that went away at some point before the flanged axles made their appearance?
 
If you have tapered axle Dana 44 there are no inner seals at the pumpkin. There are only outter seals right behind the bearings. If you haven’t changed these seals they are probably dry rotted and allowing diff grease to wash out the bearings. There is also a zerk fitting to get grease to them. You can see the seal and the hole for the zerk fitting in this photo…IMG_7044.jpeg
 
wheelie said:
Weren't there grease zerks on the tapered axle housings for the bearings? Maybe that went away at some point before the flanged axles made their appearance?
Click to expand...

AFAIK the military axles had them but not civvy units. Interestingly as far as I can tell if you pumped grease into the zerk it went into the cavity behind the bearing & out the overflow hole on the other side of the tube, straight through the cavity- there's no real reason for the new grease to go through the bearing. :confused:

Way back when I did a rebuild on Tonk's rear axle I welded up the overflow, put in the zerks and added plates on the front side of the bearings that have drain passages so now grease goes in the back, through the bearings and (hopefully, eventually) the old goes down the drain without popping through the front seal and/or grease retainer.:whistle:


:whistle:
 
Mine had the same seal between the tapered axle wheel bearing and the differential itself as shown previously.



I made the mistake of welding the vent holes closed instead of drilling and taping them for an 1/8" plug. If you tap them as pipe thread you can run a small vent tube and remove the tube when servicing so it doesn't clog with grease. The vent tube could be brake line that Ts into the axle vent or is a simple candy cane shape at the backing plate.
 
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STAGG said:
If you have tapered axle Dana 44 there are no inner seals at the pumpkin. There are only outter seals right behind the bearings. If you haven’t changed these seals they are probably dry rotted and allowing diff grease to wash out the bearings. There is also a zerk fitting to get grease to them. You can see the seal and the hole for the zerk fitting in this photo…View attachment 106672
Click to expand...
Jw60 said:
Mine had the same seal between the tapered axle wheel bearing and the differential itself as shown previously.



I made the mistake of welding the vent holes closed instead of drilling and taping them for an 1/8" plug. If you tap them as pipe thread you can run a small vent tube and remove the tube when servicing so it doesn't clog with grease. The vent tube could be brake line that Ts into the axle vent or is a simple candy cane shape at the backing plate.
Click to expand...

Mine do have these seals present that I installed maybe 8 years ago. I'll replace them next time I'm in there. The seals in the pumpkin were the question and as I thought the early 44s don't use any.
Thanks for the replies everyone.
 
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