The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Rear hub oil seal rebuild question 55.1/3600

Took off the passenger's side rear hub, disassembled, cleaned, powder coated, and then greased up and reassembled it. I put in the oil seal, but had to stop because I was at a point where I wasn't sure. Thought I'd come on here and ask advice from those of you who have done this before.

When driving in the oil seal on the rear hub, do you want to drive it in until it seats against the bearing? This would make sense to me, except that my 'before' picture from when I pulled the hub off clearly shows that there is significant play (0.125-0.25") of the bearing floating around between the seal and the race. You can see the cockeyed position of the bearing in the picture below.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/2RIQk3Z.jpg[/img]

I'm wondering if for some reason there is this play, or if that was incorrect and maybe just from years of use that it had become loose like that.

This is a 1955 first series 3/4 ton (3600). Thanks in advance for advice!

It looks right to me. The bearing backs up to the larger dia. of the spindle & the seal rides on the larger dia. of the spindle. You say you coated the brgs. with grease. Put some gear lube in the hub to lube them till the grease from the rear end gets to them. Fill the rear end grease a little over the level of the plug.

Ah, OK, so the spindle itself compresses the bearing into the race. That makes sense.

Thanks for your help and advice on the gear lube! I'll throw some in there until the rear end grease starts moving.