Brakes and axle seal / bearing

UglyDuck

UglyDuck

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Goodyear AZ
So I’m doing a complete brake system overhaul.
When I got to my rear brakes (dana44 with drums) I knew I had a leak somewhere but was kinda hoping it was the wheel cylinder.
Turned out to look like the axle seal instead so I researched that on here and ended up ordering the Timken seals and bearings as recommended in another post by Jerry and some others.
Now I’m wondering if I should have considered the spicer bearing / seal package that includes the backing plate as well.
I won’t know the condition of mine until I remove it.

Some questions though;
Do I need to disassemble / drain the differential to remove the axle? Or is that only on the Dana 35?
Do I need to do all the axle work before finishing my brake job or are they separate and inconsequential to one another?
Should I stick with the Timken parts and order the backing plates or just try to reuse the existing plates?

Thanks in advance

-Jason
 
You do not need to disassemble the rear diff to remove the axle, no c-clips.
Yes, you need to fix the leak before replacing the brakes, or you risk contaminating the new shoes.
I used timken brgs in mine with no problems.
If your backing plates are still good, not rusted/rotted to shit.... clean them up and reuse them.
 
dont worry too much about the brand, either is good. I went the dana kit route to keep things original, timken is fine.
overall the job is fairly simple, worst part is that your working with gear oil... which tends to linger on your skin for a while. be sure to wear some type of heavy mil gloves to reduce the possibility of getting it on you.

your backing plates are more than likely fine. your in AZ so they won't be crusty and its just a flat plate of steel with some holes stamped in it. take a photo of the axle before you start pulling the bearing race, seal and plate off.. you might want to reference it before you start reassembling things in the correct order.

as stated above, there is no need to pull the diff cover and disassemble.. the axle shaft will just pull right out. once you jack up the axle to pull the tire off, the majority of the oil within the tube will drain the opposite direction leaving minimal residue in your work area.

and also as stated above do the axle seals first before messing with the brake components. once you get to the brakes, blast the area hidden behind the drum with compressed air, scrub with a wire brush if needed and rinse with some brake cleaner. dont forget a light dab of brake grease on the contact points of the shoes to the backing plate once clean.

might be a wise choice to look at doing the differential oil change in your next preventative routine. if you end up doing so, permatex makes a grey rtv for gear oil which would be a better choice than just plain rtv. but if you cant find it, rtv will also work.
 
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03coloradowrangler said:
dont worry too much about the brand, either is good. I went the dana kit route to keep things original, timken is fine.
overall the job is fairly simple, worst part is that your working with gear oil... which tends to linger on your skin for a while. be sure to wear some type of heavy mil gloves to reduce the possibility of getting it on you.

your backing plates are more than likely fine. your in AZ so they won't be crusty and its just a flat plate of steel with some holes stamped in it. take a photo of the axle before you start pulling the bearing race, seal and plate off.. you might want to reference it before you start reassembling things in the correct order.

as stated above, there is no need to pull the diff cover and disassemble.. the axle shaft will just pull right out. once you jack up the axle to pull the tire off, the majority of the oil within the tube will drain the opposite direction leaving minimal residue in your work area.

and also as stated above do the axle seals first before messing with the brake components. once you get to the brakes, blast the area hidden behind the drum with compressed air, scrub with a wire brush if needed and rinse with some brake cleaner. dont forget a light dab of brake grease on the contact points of the shoes to the backing plate once clean.

might be a wise choice to look at doing the differential oil change in your next preventative routine. if you end up doing so, permatex makes a grey rtv for gear oil which would be a better choice than just plain rtv. but if you cant find it, rtv will also work.
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Good info. Vehicle is currently up on jack stands and wheels removed for brake work.
Did the diff oil change last month. 🙄
 
not 100% positive, but I believe the axle shafts may be ever so slightly slightly different in length. might be wise to mark which one goes to which side if you are pulling them both at the same time.

im sure someone else can confirm.
 
03coloradowrangler said:
not 100% positive, but I believe the axle shafts may be ever so slightly slightly different in length. might be wise to mark which one goes to which side if you are pulling them both at the same time.

im sure someone else can confirm.
Click to expand...
That makes sense, either way I would typically do only one at time, so I don’t have parts everywhere
 
I would not worry about the axle retainers it is rare for them to distort unless you have a bearing failure. Axles are different side to side so take a note of that if you are pulling both at the same time.
 
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