green bearing seal question

[fishy68]

A buddy of mine bought a 8-3/4 housing and set of Yukon axles with green bearings already pressed on from a guy and the seller said he no longer needed the inner axle seals because the green bearings are sealed. Can anybody tell me if this true or not? To me it looks like the Ford 9" setup with the green bearings but the Ford's I've seen do still have the inner axle seal. I know green bearings are sealed but I thought that was just to hold the grease in the bearing and wouldn't hold back the thinner rearend lube so I think he needs the inner seal. Let me have it. Am I right or wrong?

Thanks, Tracy

 

[Duster346]

I would use the inner axle seals. In my opinion the green bearings should have their own grease, and not be mixed with gear oil. I'd use a grease gun with a needle tip (the one for hard to access u-joint zerks) and grease the green bearings. I use Lucas (red) grease. You can pry the black seal up on the green bearing to grease it.

Why some of the big manufactures don't install inner axle seals on their pre-built rear ends is beyond me. I'm a dealer for Strange and they let the green bearing run in gear oil--no seals installed. The green bearing will eventually drip gear oil on the back of your tires, and possibly get you kicked off the track if bad enough! Not to mention gear oil can eventually ruin a drag slick!

Tracy, hope this helps, brother!

 

[fishy68]

Thanks for the reply Chris. It sure does help alot. I never thought about checking to see if the green bearings were packed good enough but we'll do that. I have a needle tip for the grease gun so it'll be easy.

Thanks again and have a great week, Tracy

 

[blackace]

This is good to know, because when I put my rear back together with Yukon axles with green bearings I still had the inner axle seal in. I never greased the bearings so I guess the bearings would burn up in no time. I guess I'll be taking my rear apart.

 

[redfastback]

Technically, they say that the o-ring keeps it sealed, but I prefer to put the inner seal in anyway. cheap insurance.

 

[fishy68]

This is good to know, because when I put my rear back together with Yukon axles with green bearings I still had the inner axle seal in. I never greased the bearings so I guess the bearings would burn up in no time. I guess I'll be taking my rear apart.

Technically they should be greased sufficiently from the factory but it's always a good thing to check.

 

[fishy68]

Technically, they say that the o-ring keeps it sealed, but I prefer to put the inner seal in anyway. cheap insurance.

That's what I was thinking too. The inner seal is only $3 at O'Reilly's so it's cheap insurance. My buddy that I asked this question for is disabled and having a hard time getting help so I think he was just hoping this would be one less step he wouldn't have to do.