Differential Bearings - grease or no?

[JaxPilot]

I get all of the replacement bearings for the differential on my 99 txt delivered tomorrow. I've got Terry's excellent thread to guide me on reassembly, but a couple of questions came to mind.

When reassembling the differential, do I need to grease or pre-oil any of the gears when I install them? Or will the splash from the gear oil when the cover is installed handle the lubrication task?

Do I need to pack the open bearings, and if so with what? Or, do I again let the splash lube do the lubricating? Should I squirt some gear oil in them to get the lube started?

For the sealed bearings, where I have to remove one or both seals to match the original configuration, do I "unpack" them?

I guess it can be summed up in this question - do I, can I, or should I mix bearing grease and gear oil in the differential, and if so, where?

[scottyb]

I use assembly oil when putting differentials and engines together. You don't want parts rubbing together waiting for oil. And in the differential I put an oz or 2 of STP in the oil so leaves a coat on the top (high) gears. That way after the cart sits for a few days there is still protection on the pieces. GL

[JaxPilot]

Like this? Do I put it in the bearings as well as on the gears?

[cgtech]

Yep, dry bearings are sad bearings.

[JaxPilot]

I'm sorry to be dense. What if the bearings were sealed, and I removed one or both seals. Do I just leave the bearing grease in them, or clean out and use this? Will it hurt if the original bearing grease mixes with the new differential oil?


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[scottyb]

Do not wash sealed bearings as found in the outter axles. Simply replace with new as they are cheap. Assembly lube is for gears etc. I do not believe you will find any hand-packed bearings in your differential unless they are at the input shaft, then use a highest quality bearing grease

[JaxPilot]

Thanks, Scotty.

[JaxPilot]

One more clarification question. As an example, the output gear bearing (17473G1) is a 6007 bearing. It has no seals. However, the replacement 6007RZ bearing I bought has 2 seals on it, as I recall TerryH saying he just removed unnecessary seals if they were installed. Plowman says to keep anything other than his differential lube out of the transfer case. When I pull these seals off the new bearing, do I flush them clean or just let the differential oil slowly wash the grease out of them?



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