The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Almost found out the hard way how easy to flip an outer wheel bearing!

I recently discovered I had a rear axel seal leak on my new brake shoes of my 1950 2500 mile 1.5 ton fire truck. Ordered a new seal from an old truck supplier, installed it and put the rear hub back on, but it seemed like the outer lock-nut didn't thread on quite far enough. Everything seemed okay, but I figured while I was at it I should replace the other 69 year old seal. Had the part number from the $35 dollar seal, and found another one on amazon for $12.50. The lock-nut on that side was flush with the axel tube, unlike the other side. Turns out the outer bearing can just flip over from laying it down, and picking it back up. That could have been a disaster if I hadn't caught it. Sometimes it's too easy to screw up a simple job.