Grease in the rear brake drum

[84_chevy]

I just redid the rear brakes about a month ago and eveything went well, replaced ever thing right down to the parking brake strut springs.

well this weekend i had to pull the rear tires off so I took a quick look at the brakes also. low and behold everything under the passenger side brake drum was covered in grease. Its not coming from the brake caliper or the line, that is all new and looks perfect. It also must of just started because the old parts were worn but showed no sign of oil/grease contamination.

My guess is the grease seal for the axle shaft has gone bad.

Here is my question; Should I go ahead and pull the axle to replace the seal, the Haynes manual makes it sound simple enough and I'm sure a seal is not all that expensive but following that manual has got me into trouble on more then one occasion.

What I'm worried about is every time I go to fix something in my truck I have to fix 5 other things just because its so worn out and none of the PO have looked after it in a long time.

Right now the truck is not on the road so I don't have to worry about brakes to much moving it around the property and I'm also not prepared to rebuild the whole rear end right now. Should I leave it for now until I'm ready to rebuild the rear end and what other troubles might I find after I pop off the differential cover?

[ont_guy_38]

I would think if there is no noise coming from the rear of the truck it would be safe to assume the bearings were good . The leaking grease on the brake shoes will cause the rear brakes to lock up at the touch of the pedal and will keep wrecking shoes until it's fixed. Your biggest worry is getting the pin out of the rear end , some come right out and others....well you know

[84_chevy]

There is no humming coming from the rear end when I drive it but I do know there is a lot play in the universal joint. again I have not changed the universal joint yet because I might be looking at changing the complete drive shaft if its egged out.

The truck is 4X4 with a posi rear end if I'm not mistaken. Being a posi makes the job a little bit more complicated, correct?

when its in the air and I rotate the tires they move smoothly and quietly but when i reverse the direction of the rotation there is a good degree of slack and a clunk before the other wheel will change rotation. How much play (if any) should there be from one axle to the other?

[motornut]

I had some issues with my 88,oil there plus
Previous owner had things wielded up back there...
had to get it all rebuilt.
it was suggested i use offset bearings,so the next 20+ years wear in a different spot
and that was 8+ years ago....

[Weasel Diesel]

Originally Posted by motornut

I had some issues with my 88,oil there plus
Previous owner had things wielded up back there...
had to get it all rebuilt.
it was suggested i use offset bearings,so the next 20+ years wear in a different spot
and that was 8+ years ago....

Oh gosh I hate that. 2 drunk guys & an arc welder is bad news... Hillbilly lockers,.. gotta love 'em

[motornut]

Originally Posted by Weasel Diesel

Oh gosh I hate that. 2 drunk guys & an arc welder is bad news... Hillbilly lockers,.. gotta love 'em

yup.
after finding the wields,this was not something i wanted to dig into,i had it done by a local shop
but worse bad news tho is getting woken up by the cops
tellin ya one of them drunks just drove a dodge into your truck
truck is a write off ,but the rear end still seems fine

[84_chevy]

Originally Posted by motornut

I had some issues with my 88,oil there plus
Previous owner had things wielded up back there...
had to get it all rebuilt.
it was suggested i use offset bearings,so the next 20+ years wear in a different spot
and that was 8+ years ago....

Motornut that's exactly were I don't want to go right now. The truck is running and its not on the road so the braking problem is not a huge issue right now. I'm the type of guy who wont put it back together if its all frigged up in there. I'm worried I'll end up having to replace every thing and I don't have the time or money for that right now, I also dont want the truck siting on jack stands for the next two months while I hunt down parts.

The long term plan is to find a donor truck and rebuild the big chunks one by one then replace them, axles, trans, transfer case, etc.

[motornut]

Originally Posted by 84_chevy

Motornut that's exactly were I don't want to go right now. The truck is running and its not on the road so the braking problem is not a huge issue right now. I'm the type of guy who wont put it back together if its all frigged up in there. I'm worried I'll end up having to replace every thing and I don't have the time or money for that right now, I also dont want the truck siting on jack stands for the next two months while I hunt down parts.

The long term plan is to find a donor truck and rebuild the big chunks one by one then replace them, axles, trans, transfer case, etc.

sounds like a good plan!

[jojoman]

it is easy bro take rearend cap off knock pin out and it has two like locks so the shaft wont come out it took me about an hour to do it.I had to do it on my 87 i would hit breaks and it would almost jump from grase being on pads not gripping right

[84_chevy]

I'll pop the rear end off it this weekend and have a look see. If i feel I can handle the job i'll order the seals and go for it.

I just don't want to end up like motornut with my diff spread out over garage and me standing there scratching the top of my head saying what did I get myself into (again)

No offense intended Motornut

[motornut]

Originally Posted by 84_chevy

I'll pop the rear end off it this weekend and have a look see. If i feel I can handle the job i'll order the seals and go for it.

I just don't want to end up like motornut with my diff spread out over garage and me standing there scratching the top of my head saying what did I get myself into (again)

No offense intended Motornut

Lol
Non taken
Those pics were when the "pro" did the work
Yup I was head stratchin,WTF dumass
did this
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