The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop prep new rear axles

I have a 75 nova rear that I needed to replace outter bearings, seals, and axles. Should I use bearing lube on any of these parts (for break in purposes)?

I would, What harm could it do. I usually use stp. it sticks better during assembly.

I'd just dip the bearing in the oil being used in the rear end. Gear oil. Then I'd give a small wipe of grease on the seal lip before installing the axle. Not much "breaking in" going on with a roller bearing.

Just a thought on STP...by itself, STP has no lubricating properties. It works great to thicken up oil and help it remain on metallic surfaces.

As MNSmith pointed out....there isn't much break-in on roller bearings and a light coat of grease on the seal surfaces is standard procedure. I really wouldn't use straight STP on any surface as a lubricant.....it won't work. How do I know this as a fact? I learned the hard way!!! Hope this helps you avoid my mistake....

Dave

depending on how long you intend to let your car sit before being driven will determine what you use.
if you are driving it right away after assembly then use gear oil as pre-lube. if it is going to sit for a while i would use bearing grease. reason being is that the diff fluid sits in the sump and doesnt travel down the tubes to the outer bearings until after your down the road aways. just helps lube the bearing until gear oil from the sump gets to it.

Oh, I don't know about that. Look at most differentials. The fill hole is usually slightly above the axle tube level. Which means a bit creeps down there in a perfect world. In a non-perfect world, one side will get more than the other when sitting at an angle.

Back to the stp, used it on race engines,that might set a couple of weeks before we used them, and never had one sieze, spin a bearing, or puke a cam lobe. I offer no claim for running it with your engine oil, but still stick with it for assembly. will admit to using a elec.drill on the oil pump prime before starting.

Use something, that's the important part.
As otherwise the axle bearings get no lubrication untill you drive on the side of a hill or take a sharp turn at speed, and again the other way.

Grigg

Wha???? How fast do you think gear oil flows??