The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Well this is a weird design..

I pulled the rear hub off of my 1955 chevrolet 1600.. Its a canadian 2 ton with a 2spd corporate. rear diff. vacuum actuated.

Now the bearings are all good. I have new oil seals to install. All is well.

I am just a little thrown off as to just how this design is expected to create a positive seal between the inboard bearing I.D. and the spindle O.D.. In theory it should work..

Ive been told oil is only thrown out to the hubs when turning and sometimes when on a slant. That The level of the oil in the axle is not high enough to cause problems. hmmmm ??

Anyway if you look at the pictures you will see the 2 angled surfaces that are expected to seal the oil from getting between the I.D. of the bearing and the O.D. of the spindle.

Has anyone experienced oil leaking through this area and into the brake assembly area ?

Does anyone have any thoughts on this design in general ?

I’m by no stretch of the imagination a expert on these setups but isn’t the purpose of the cupped piece to sling/funnel any oil getting past the seal area back toward the bearing?

When you re-assemble the inner bearing and race back into the hub and then press the seal into the hub the O.D. of the seal keeps oil from leaking past the hub, the rubber lip keeps oil from leaking past the race, the close fit of the race to the spindle keeps oil from passing between the race and spindle, the race should not rotate on the spindle.

That inner bearing race design is similar to the one used on ball bearing front hubs on the smaller trucks. The seal surface is integral with the bearing race instead of the seal riding on the spindle or the rear axle load tube. Those older full floating axles were actually designed to have grease-packed bearings, and they usually had an outer seal that rode on the axle shaft or the snout of the load tube to prevent rear end oil from getting to the hubs. A recent thread in the big bolts forum had a discussion about finding those outer seals, which have a bolt circle that matches the axle flange. That cupped deflector isn't a slinger- - - - -it's there to drain any leakage through a weep hole in the backing plate to try to keep oil off the brake shoes.
Jerry

Hy Noonan, I had to go and find a picture of the inner bearing to confirm my suspicion, I think your inner bearing has become welded to the axle "wiper" (the part the seal rides on). Those should be two separate pieces. The wiper should be a very snug fit on the axle tube. I have never been able to find a "wiper" part number in my GM parts books. I purchased a seal once for my 59 Chevrolet dump truck, when I compared new seal to old the dimensions were not the same, I thought great, they gave me the wrong seal, I looked in the new seal box again, in it I found an instruction sheet telling me to remove the wiper from the axle tube and then the seal would fit. this was a new design of seal, a "Scott" seal a seal designed to turn internally, you may be able to find such a seal by dimensions

Thanks dude

3B thanks for the reply. Nothing wrong with the bearing or components just wanted to verify the design for sealing purposes.

Hot Rod Lincoln that is interesting to hear about the outer seal . The bearings in the hub assembly were in great shape so I don't want to be messing with the original assembly, the oil looks to be doing the job.

78 buckshot. Thanks Eh ! I will keep an eye on things and follow the service manual so this race is seated well to the spindle.

I pulled the information for the rear wheel bearing lubrication from the 1955 Chevrolet Service Manual. On the top right you will see the heading for Rear Wheel Bearings Lubrication.