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kyle86's avatar
kyle86
Explorer
Jun 03, 2016

Leaking hub seal on the spindle repairable if damaged? Pics

Long story short, these are brand new axles I bought from a dexter distributor fully assembled. At the first brake adjustment I noticed grease all around the hub and could see the seal leaking through backing plate. I tough it out on 3 brakes till I get to my destination another 1000 miles away. Park it and pull the hub to find the spindle was damaged at factory around where the inner seal rides. This is an ez lube axle by the way though I have never used that feature. The only thing i did was install the axles and adjust the brakes.

Now my question, is this seal journal repairable or does the whole axle need replaced. I have had somewhat difficult time getting assistance from dexter though the distributor seems willing to help act as middle man.

Obviously I will need at minimum new shoes and a seal or backing plate but can I fix gouge on the spindle without having to pull the axle back out? Is there a way to perminately fill these gouges/voids/nicks to achieve a smooth sealing surface? I am not in a positon to do the labor of replacing an entire axle myself as I am currently at a campground with limited tools on dirt.

Pics:









  • That bottom nick looks like it is right in the lib seal area. As deep as it is you're not going to be able to make that work by cleaning up the area with a stone. As has been suggested in another thread, a SpeediSleeve will work, but it certainly shouldn't be your responsibility to repair such an obvious screw-up.

    Take these pictures to the place you bought them from and tell them to fix them.

    FWIW when I pulled my hubs to check things out I was pretty disgusted with the condition of the grease sealing areas. It was scuffed and marked rather badly for what should be a sealing surface. Maybe it's one of the reasons people have failures right out of the box.