Well Gang,
Upon my last brake inspection of our '04 Itasca Horizon 36GD with the 330 CAT, I found a slightly leaking left rear hub seal. It was not that bad so, we went on our pending trip. About 1500 miles later, I thought I'd take another look, not knowing how long it took it to get that way in the first 49,900 miles. Well, it's only a tad worse but, since I had it half way apart, I figured what the heck, might as well do it.
This kind of job is not all that hard. The hard part is, the heaviness of each of the wheels and tires, the drum and, even the hub. So, if you plan on taking on a project like this, be prepared for some heavy and awkward tire/wheel combos and that drum.
Anyway, with the correct tools, gear-reduced "Torque Multiplier", the 450 lb. torqued lug nuts came off very, very easily. Then the drum, which I used a motorcycle jack to remove, what a piece of cake with that jack. Then, the hub, I needed 4" hub nut socket for that.
Then, the removal of the seal. I used a Snap On "claw footed" crow bar for that and, it worked flawless. I cleaned all the parts and, ordered up the seal. Incidentally, that seal is right at $47.00, wow, for a seal?? Really!
So, in the pics you'll see that there is some migration of the diff oil on various edges and some parts but, not enough to contaminate the brake shoes etc. So, I finished cleaning all the brake area, return springs, S-cam etc. I had to make a seal installer tool because this seal is so large that you could damage it by trying to install it with the old hammer and flat punch way. Boy, that's the way to go. So, all back together and better than new. A fun but, laborious project.
Scott
Upon my last brake inspection of our '04 Itasca Horizon 36GD with the 330 CAT, I found a slightly leaking left rear hub seal. It was not that bad so, we went on our pending trip. About 1500 miles later, I thought I'd take another look, not knowing how long it took it to get that way in the first 49,900 miles. Well, it's only a tad worse but, since I had it half way apart, I figured what the heck, might as well do it.
This kind of job is not all that hard. The hard part is, the heaviness of each of the wheels and tires, the drum and, even the hub. So, if you plan on taking on a project like this, be prepared for some heavy and awkward tire/wheel combos and that drum.
Anyway, with the correct tools, gear-reduced "Torque Multiplier", the 450 lb. torqued lug nuts came off very, very easily. Then the drum, which I used a motorcycle jack to remove, what a piece of cake with that jack. Then, the hub, I needed 4" hub nut socket for that.
Then, the removal of the seal. I used a Snap On "claw footed" crow bar for that and, it worked flawless. I cleaned all the parts and, ordered up the seal. Incidentally, that seal is right at $47.00, wow, for a seal?? Really!
So, in the pics you'll see that there is some migration of the diff oil on various edges and some parts but, not enough to contaminate the brake shoes etc. So, I finished cleaning all the brake area, return springs, S-cam etc. I had to make a seal installer tool because this seal is so large that you could damage it by trying to install it with the old hammer and flat punch way. Boy, that's the way to go. So, all back together and better than new. A fun but, laborious project.
Scott
