closed knuckle question?

[rossboss]

How are closed knuckles lubricated? I tore my 65 chevy K10 closed knuckle front end apart today and was a bit surprized with what I found. When I took the cover off the front end I found a sludge mess and when I removed the axles I found that they had been greased. Apparantly someone had removed the plugs on the side of the knuckle housings and filled them with grease, with no seal between the closed knuckle housings and front end gears the 90 wieght gear lub and grease mixed. What a mess, is this the right to lubricate the knuckles, it sure doesn't seem right to me.

[kwmech]

You are correct there should be a seal on the inside of the diff to keep the 90 wt where it belongs. Did you go that deep into the housing?

[rossboss]

So you're saying that the knuckle housing does get filled with grease? I don't see any machined area on the axle shaft that would allow a seal to work.

[mkmiller1]

I've never torn one apart, but I do know on my '68 closed knuckle that there is a grease zerk on the "ball" part of the knouckle. I've shot grease in it before and just figured there was a seal in there somewhere to separate the two.
Matthew