daysel

I pulled the drums of the rear last night and there was grease everywhere.
Is that the axle seal? Im not familiar with these rears but it smelled like diff fluid.

John Faughn

the r. bearings are lubed by the diff. fluid , no grease , so if the wheel spins with no ruff feel from bad bearings , then clean off with brake cleaner spray , put in new seals , refill diff. and you should be good to go .

daysel

Do I need a slide hammer to get them off? And why do I need to refill the diff?

John Faughn

How much wrenching are you comfortable with ?
Its been awhile , there is 2 ways the axial is helled in , the 1st is for your truck if the memory is working , take the diff. cover off , then you need to get to the too small bolt that goes through the spider gears cross shaft - pictures - then the X shaft will come out , then turn a wheel slowly by hand to get gears to fall out WAIT WAIT I forgot some thing els , your going to have a clutch in there , you should get a manual PICTURES & directions .
Try this link for parts & info - that one disapeared -sorry ,
No the slide hammer goes with the other 1/2 ton car type diff. a cover over the axial , 4 bolts hold it on then the slide hummer .

infidel

I've never had to open up the differential to change the seals.
Jack the side you are working on high so fluid flows to the other side.
Remove wheel, remove the eight small bolts that hold the cap on, you will have to use RTV on the cap when you reinstall. Remove the keeper on the big nut (you will need a new one), remove big nut, it takes a 2-9/19" rounded socket that you can pick up at most autoparts. After the nut is off you can pull out the axle and outer bearing.
I use the axle for a slide hammer to remove the seal. I'm trying to remember how this goes without looking at it but seem to recall leaving the outer bearing off, hand tighten the nut and the axle will be a slide hammer.
The rest is self evident. Use RTV on the outside of the new seal to prevent leaks. I coat the inner part of the seal with grease to prevent the spring from bouncing out when yo drive the seal in.
Sorry don't know the torque values offhand, maybe someone else will pipe in.
All in all it's very easy job even for someone with little mechanical experience.

daysel

cool.
I didn't think I needed to pull the diff cover. I was just making sure I could get to them with just removing the hub.
I didn't want to pull the cover/ c-clips( if there are)/ axles and buy new fluid. that stuff isn't cheap.
We'll see what happens.
Thanks for the advise.

Tate

Bill pretty much spelled everything out. Torque the hub nut to 90 ft-lbs., then back off 1/3 turn, as per the Haynes manual. Or better yet, the Factory Service Manual says torque to 120-140 ft-lbs, then back off 1/8 turn.

Straighten the old seal if its bent up, and use that to help install the new seal in straight without bending it up. The grease inside the seal is a good trick too. Check your spindle for a groove, might need a speedi-sleeve if there is one. Or install the seal deeper/shallower to keep it out of the groove.

berner

It'd be a good idea to pack the bearings with some grease so they're lubricated until you can do some figure 8's to get the diff oil out to the bearings after you put it all together. I've re-used the keepers with no problems in 4 years of driving since I did mine. Just be careful when you pull them out. I priced them at the dealer and they were about $10/ea if I remember correctly. Ridiculous!

daysel

Thanks.
Im about to tear it apart in a few hours. Crappy part is waiting for my drums to be cut. If the bearings are coming out, they'll get cleaned up and repacked.
Looks like the rear brakes actually do more than I thought. Pads are worn all the way down. Or maybe they haven't been replaced in a long time. Hopefully with the cylinder upgrade and the new shoes, i'll notice it when I push the pedal.

infidel

Typical.
I paid $2.99 for four of them at Napa. They didn't have any for a Dodge but the Ford ones were exactly the same.

SRA

What's with the wheel cyl. upgrade? I've got a '95 2500 that I'll be doing the rear brakes on soon and I want to do it right the first time. Thanx. Steve

infidel

Replace the rear wheel cylinders with 30mm ones. Part number 37337 (Napa 4637337) at most autoparts for about $13 each.
Switching from a 27mm (all 3500s and post '97 2500s)to a 30mm cylinder increases applied force area from 572.55mm^2 to 706.85mm^2.
That's over a 23% increase in rear braking force!
On a pre '97 2500 with the stock 24mm cylinders the increase is almost 50%
The difference is very noticeable and is a direct bolt-up.

The mod is described in more detail here-
https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...threadid=43854

daysel

Big difference. Thanks for the help.
NAPA part # is 37337.