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WILDEBILL308's avatar
WILDEBILL308
Explorer II
Mar 31, 2016

Oil bath hub's

I had always thought my hubs were the grease packed type. Therefore I had not re packed them and haven't pulled the front wheel covers off. Well what do you know I have oil bath hubs. :P
Yesterday I drained the oil (they have the drain ports) and re filled with Royal Purple gear oil. There are a couple of things I noticed,
One is the drain plugs have magnets built in, so check for excessive metal shavings. It would be extremely easy to under fill the hub. When you add the new oil it takes a long time to flow back in the hub. It will look full but 5-10 minuets later it is below the line.
I was doing a couple other things like changing the oil on the generator so I kept checking the oil level and re filling. I can see how easy it would be to not get enough oil in the hubs. Say at a shop where they were in a hurry to get you out.
Well I am glad I pulled the wheel covers off to measure the bolt pattern as I was planning to convert to the oil bath style.
I don't know how much the hubs are suppose to hold or that I got all the old oil out (I didn't have anything to suck it out) I may do a repeat after a trip to Fredericksburg Texas next month.
Bill
  • WILDEBILL308 wrote:
    I had always thought my hubs were the grease packed type. Therefore I had not re packed them and haven't pulled the front wheel covers off. Well what do you know I have oil bath hubs. :P
    Yesterday I drained the oil (they have the drain ports) and re filled with Royal Purple gear oil. There are a couple of things I noticed,
    One is the drain plugs have magnets built in, so check for excessive metal shavings. It would be extremely easy to under fill the hub. When you add the new oil it takes a long time to flow back in the hub. It will look full but 5-10 minuets later it is below the line.
    I was doing a couple other things like changing the oil on the generator so I kept checking the oil level and re filling. I can see how easy it would be to not get enough oil in the hubs. Say at a shop where they were in a hurry to get you out.
    Well I am glad I pulled the wheel covers off to measure the bolt pattern as I was planning to convert to the oil bath style.
    I don't know how much the hubs are suppose to hold or that I got all the old oil out (I didn't have anything to suck it out) I may do a repeat after a trip to Fredericksburg Texas next month.
    Bill

    they don't hold a ton of oil and you cant just drain the oil.
    in its entirety also make double sure your on dead flat ground
  • the only way to get all the old is to pull the wheel as most of the oil is in a resessed area between the inner and outer wheel bearings this would also involve replacing the wheel seals. the best and least expensive solution is to wait until you have a wheel seal or brake issue that requires the wheel to be removed as most shops charge between 2 to 2 1/2hour labor per wheel @ $100 + per hour plus parts