'14 Ram 2500 Axle Seals Leaking
My '14 2500 has 120,000 miles. This summer before a big trip pulling my 5th wheel out west I found both outer axle seals leaking. I replaced them along with the parking brake shoes and have pulled o...
Forum Discussion
...."I did not set pre-load on the retaining nut which could be the issue. When did I the repair I found others saying they did this by measuring the thread depth of the hub nut and then put it back in the same depth when the seal was replaced.
After searching again I did find references to pre-loading the nut to 22 ft-lbs while turning the hubg, then backing off 30 degrees to install the retainer key. I'll definitely follow this on the next repair.
KJ....."
Preload is very, very important, especially when reusing your old tapered roller bearings. I cannot stress that enough. The bearings take a 'set' and wear in so it's of extreme importance to apply preload while spinning the hub and then back it off. The back off amount varies with the axle. It can also be done with a dial indicator (and the TIR (total indicated runout will be in shop manual for your vehicle.
On my truck (Ford F350, Corporate 10.5 rear), preload is 60 pounds feet and back off is 5 clicks on the prevailing torque nut. The Ford rear uses the same setup as a Dana uses, a ratcheting prevailing torque nut that takes a special toothed socket to adjust. Every axle is different (consult a shop manual for your correct preload and back off) but the procedure is always the same, just the values change. My front (Dana 60 full floater) uses the tabbed retainer and double nuts with a different preload spec.
What is important in all this is..
If the preload is too high, the bearings will fail (you'll know thats happening, they get noisy and the hub will heat up) and if too loose, the seal (and hub will wobble) and the seal will weep oil.
If the preload is extremely high, it can impact the ring and pinion too and can destroy the rear housing.
You want a maximum of 0.0015 TIR on any hub, thats one and five ten thousands of an inch. Just enough to allow the rollers to maintain the boundary layer of lube oil.
After searching again I did find references to pre-loading the nut to 22 ft-lbs while turning the hubg, then backing off 30 degrees to install the retainer key. I'll definitely follow this on the next repair.
KJ....."
Preload is very, very important, especially when reusing your old tapered roller bearings. I cannot stress that enough. The bearings take a 'set' and wear in so it's of extreme importance to apply preload while spinning the hub and then back it off. The back off amount varies with the axle. It can also be done with a dial indicator (and the TIR (total indicated runout will be in shop manual for your vehicle.
On my truck (Ford F350, Corporate 10.5 rear), preload is 60 pounds feet and back off is 5 clicks on the prevailing torque nut. The Ford rear uses the same setup as a Dana uses, a ratcheting prevailing torque nut that takes a special toothed socket to adjust. Every axle is different (consult a shop manual for your correct preload and back off) but the procedure is always the same, just the values change. My front (Dana 60 full floater) uses the tabbed retainer and double nuts with a different preload spec.
What is important in all this is..
If the preload is too high, the bearings will fail (you'll know thats happening, they get noisy and the hub will heat up) and if too loose, the seal (and hub will wobble) and the seal will weep oil.
If the preload is extremely high, it can impact the ring and pinion too and can destroy the rear housing.
You want a maximum of 0.0015 TIR on any hub, thats one and five ten thousands of an inch. Just enough to allow the rollers to maintain the boundary layer of lube oil.
