I've been meaning to change the brakes on the old dodge for about a month now. Today I bought some new pads and springs for it. To my surprise when I pulled the drums, the entire brake assembly was coated with differential fluid. This seems to be a bit of a problem. The only seal that I see in the haynes manual is a rear oil seal behind the bearing.

I pulled out the axles, which was easy enough, but now I need to take out the hub and the bearings inside of them and find the oil seal. I cannot find a socket at the store big enough to fit the locking nut that holds the hub to the differential so that is my first problem. Second problem is what all do I need to replace, and can I do this at my house? If its just the oil seal then that may not be a big deal, but if I have to change the bearings and any other little parts in between is it possible using garage tools?

Any help is appreciated as I'm taking the day off of work to get this fixed tomorrow.

Thanks
Matt

 

I am assuming your axle is a full floater so after you get the nut off you should be able to slide the hub off, watch the outer bearing, either pull it out before or make sure you it doesn't hit the ground and get debris in it when pulling the hub off the spindle. Take the outer hearing out, flip the hub over, then you should see the seal. Should be able to use a (medium to large) flat head screw drive to pry it out. Then once out install the new one using either a seal installer or a lrge flat piece of metal so it goes in even. lUbe the rubber lip with some oil. Then just reverse to put hub back on. Should be able to get the lock nut tool at Oreilly's if they are around you if they don't sell it, they have a rental set with just about evryone made and it is essentialy free rental since you get your money back when you return it. Hope this helps. Anymore q's just holler

oh yeah, you don't need to replace the bearings, but make sure you torque/ set them to the right preload when you reassemble or you will be replacing them shortly

 

It's a 98.5 2500 with a 5 speed. I'm not sure its its a dana 70 or 80. One question I do have is can I use my drums by just cleaning them out, or do I need to get them machined? My roommate seems to think they need machined but I'm not sure?

 

voidisactive;
You have a 70, I'm fairly sure of that, if that's not correct someone on here will correct me. If your drums don't have any really deep groves in them and you didn't have a fluttering or pulsating brake pedal I wouldn't have them turned. Clean them w/ a brake cleaner and reinstall.
ramguy

 

I'm not sure, but I think the axle nut size is 2-9/16". I bought my socket at NAPA.
Tom

 

In a pinch you can use two large flat blade screw drivers to get the nut off. Use one to "wedge" between the flat side of the nut and the hub, and use the other one to turn the hub. If you have the blade facing the right way the turning hub will wedge the flat blade against the nut and turn it right off. I'm still too cheap to buy that big socket.

 

How do you get the correct torque when reinstalling with a screwdriver though?

 

That would be a hard one to figure out wouldn't it????

 

it's pretty easy
you need a 2 9/16 axel nut socket, the round edge 6 point type i got mine at napa
torque it down to 125ft/lbs and back it off 120* (i think)
this is for a 80 im not sure if its the same for the 70

 

All the diesel trucks use 120 to 140 foot lbs torque, then back it off 120 degrees (1/3 of a turn) so you have between .001 and .010 inch wheel bearing endplay.

Do not run them torqued tight or they will fail.

 

Man this has taken awhile. Today I went to Napa to get the oil seals, differential fluid, gaskets, rtv sealant, and a 2 1/2 inch axle socket (before someone posted 2 9/16). Got home it didn't work, went down to tool king which was the only place in town that had the socket about 40 miles away and finally found it. Came home took off the hub, and then realized they gave me the wrong oil seals way too small. Brought those back and got the right ones and had a ***** getting the oil seals out so I went out and got a seal puller. Mounted the hubs inside of the wheel for some leverage then half of the seal came out, the inner part. Started working on the outer part and finally popped it out. The second side went much easier from my experience. Then I used about 10 cans of brake cleaner on the drums and the brake assembly.

Finally got to the brakes. The springs were a ***** and I snapped myself a few times. Now I'm on the second side brakes and preparing to put the new oil seals in and repack the bearings in about an hours. Hopefully all of that goes well so I don't have to take it apart. What a way to spend a vacation day man!

Thanks for all your help and I'll look back on this before I pack the bearings to see if anyone has any last minute advice.

Matt

 

Your probably right on this Bill, not such good info to put out on a tech subject. I've been doing it that way since working on 3/4 & 1 ton Dodges in the Air Force. You kind of get a "farm feel" for bearing preload and I never had a failure on the old Dodges I owned, but as a reader here maybe doing it for the first time not such a hot idea. There are better ways as listed in some of the other posts. Old habits die hard .
Jay

 

I know what you mean Jay, I rarely use a torque wrench, but do try to use the correct size socket
Don't remember what brand of rig it was but the manual said to adjust the pre-load by turning the nut till the wheel wouldn't spin then to back it off to the first lock point.
Still use this method on rigs when I don't have the specs.

 

Well I think I screwed up. Got the first wheel done no problems. Second one I think I pounded the oil seal in to hard and bent the metal which sorta crushed the seal a little. I have to drive it to work tomorrow so it looks like I'll have to take the left side apart again this weekend and do it again, jeesh.

Thanks for the help!
Matt

 

If you get oil on the new brake shoes, you will have to buy another set when you go to replace seal because oil+brake lining= failure. You can not clean the oil out of the brake lining no matter how much Brakleen you soak them in.

Just my $.02 for what it's worth.

Gary