The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop '54 3/4 ton, rear axle leak

Hello Stovebolters...Well I pulled my wifes 54 out of the storage from the long winter, and there was a big puddle of rear oil next to drivers side wheel. It apparently leked out around the "hub" seal, and down over the rim/tire.

Do I need to pull the both axles or the entire rear to replace this?

This is a good sized vehicle, and I want to make sure my wife is safe.

ALL help/COMMENTS appreciated.

Thanks,

Jim

Do you have the shop manual? As I recall it has a pretty good section on replacing these seals.

You should only need to remove the wheel and hub, a pretty easy task on the 3/4 ton. No need to remove the whole rear end I should think.

-Boyo

Boyo's right. There's a thread titled big truck rear axle seals where it's described how to do this. And the shop manual is invaluable, if you don't have one get one.

Jim,

Sorry to hear about this! It probably goes with out saying, but try not to move the truck until you get everything cleaned-up: the engineers tried to design these axles with drain-holes and such to drain gear-oil out of the backing plate without soaking the brakes, but some might have gotten inside, and moving the truck might spread that oil around & over the brake shoes, ni which case you'll need to replace or re-line the shoes.

The shop manual does cover this thoroughly; I would suggest pulling the axle (wheel on the ground), then the wheel, then the brake drum (removing the two counter-sunk screws), then you can work on pulling the hub. Stripping everthing off the hub minimizes the amount of weight you'l be wrestling with.

Once you get the the hub off, pull the brake shoes off so they're not in the way and don't get greased if they haven't already. Then you can clean-up the grease and gunk; if you haven't done any brake work, this is a great time to replace your rear wheel cyls , they should still be available through NAPA, Raybestos, or Wagner; also, while cleaning up the backin plate, look around the axle stub, where it meets the backing plate for some sort of drain hole: there's usually a tin collar that's supposed to catch any leakage from the hub seal and divert it through this hole and let it drain on the outside of the backing plate, hopefully keeping it off the brake linings!

Also, check the rear axle vent, which is a hollow, capped bolt, usually the one that holds the brass brake junction block to the rear axle housing. After cleaning that dirst away from that area, remove that bolt and see if you can blow air through it; if not, give it a soaking in gasoline or carb cleaner, until you get air to pass through it. If it's clogged, when the gear oil in the rear end gets warm, it can get forced past the seals, no matter how good they are.

Good luck!

Thanks for all the HELP! The shop manual is ON THE WAY! I had one, ...but it got destroyed in a small garage fire...my first attempt in gas welding in a few years...fortunatley it just torched a few manuals and paperwork, and not the side of the 54 sitting 6 feet away...

I will tackle the seal this weekend for sure. The wife is all upset, as this weekend was supposed o be the FIRST show for HER truck...

Thanks again for all the help!

Jim

I don't know about having a book burner in our gang! Just keep that torch away from my collection as well as yours from now on.

Jim,

I was burning some bolts out of a truck chassis one time (and not paying enough attention to what was going on), and after a while noticed a burning sensation in one of my feet; well I looked down and noticed my boot was
"on far"!

Hadn't thought through just WHERE all that molten slag from the Oxy-Acetylene torch was going!

Hope you & I both are beyond that stuff now-a-days!

Frank