rear wheel showing grease on wheel cover

[Snomas]

I noticed some grease stains on a my rear dully wheel stainless cover today. Could that be a wheel bearing seal going out and how soon should that be fixed?

[jolooote]

aaahhh..Never mind...DUH

[Carvin_Marvin]

Look at the tire wall on the inside. That should tell you if it is the axle seal.

[FIRE_UP]

jolooote wrote:
Do you use 'Bearing Buddies'? Do u grease em yourself? If so, its common to force too much grease into them and it will throw excess out.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

Bearing buddies on a Dana rear axle on a motorhome? Wow, that's a new one on me. If I recall, "Bearing buddies" are normally used on trailer axles and, most commonly BOAT trailer axles.
Scott

[FIRE_UP]

BUT.....before you do anything, clean it off good and give things a good inspection.


Best answer yet! The smart thing to do is, remove that stainless cover and see what's what in there. Todays axles, especially the larger Dana models, don't leak very often. They can but, it's rare. Many axles are installed WITHOUT any gasket at all. A very THIN layer of silicone has been used for quite some time. If threads have been cleaned and prepped correctly, and they've had the correct thread locker applied, it's also extremely rare for them to come loose.

So, before you get too excited and buzz on down to your local auto parts store, pull that cover and, do a real good cleanup to see where the potential leak is coming from.
Scott

[jolooote]

Do you use 'Bearing Buddies'? Do u grease em yourself? If so, its common to force too much grease into them and it will throw excess out.

[pigman1]

rgatijnet1 wrote:
It may just be the seal on the end of the axle shaft. Very common for them to leak. They basically just pull the axle out, clean the surfaces, apply gasket material, and slide the axle back in. About a 30 minute job.

Yep. Check the bolts for tightness first. I've had this problem 3 times on 3 different coaches and each only required tightening the bolts. A good thing to put on your periodic check list too.

[Sam_Spade]

BUT.....before you do anything, clean it off good and give things a good inspection.

The last 3 vehicles I've had all got globs of grease scattered down the side and I thought sure I had a CV joint seal failing or a wheel bearing. Nope. None of them.

About 5 years apart apparently each of them hit a glob of grease on the road from something else.

Before you tear anything apart, be sure it IS coming from YOU.

[wildmanbaker]

could be the seal, or the axel gasket. Sometimes the bolts holding the axle to the hub work loose and leak. If you are going to do this yourself, try to find out exactly which rear end you have and acquire the other seal and axle gasket ahead of time to save yourself some headaches. You will need a pretty large jack to support the rear end for the work.

[rgatijnet1]

It may just be the seal on the end of the axle shaft. Very common for them to leak. They basically just pull the axle out, clean the surfaces, apply gasket material, and slide the axle back in. About a 30 minute job.