How much grease??
- Thread starter Digger276
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Digger276 said:
The general consensus is that you want the knuckle housing cavity to be 2/3 to 3/4 full. Filling it all the way or too full can expedite failure of the inner axle seal as the knuckle grease heats up (in addition to negative pressure in the axle if you haven't removed the breather flapper) in the housing and pushes past the axle seal, contaminating the oil in the diff.
Rookie2
Why are you adding grease to the birfield?
If your knuckles are leaking there is a good chance they need service. Adding grease to the knuckle cavity will not make it to the birf. With regular service there is no need to add grease IMO.
some of the grease winds up on the outside of the ball past the felt and rubber seals every time you turn, this woudl have to be replaced eventually, the grease you add may not make it into the birf itself but having no grease in the outer knuckle area will allow grease in the birf area to escape, 2/3 to 3/4 full sounds good to me.
do not need to do it every oil change maybe every 20K or so, over full is bad aswell,
do not need to do it every oil change maybe every 20K or so, over full is bad aswell,
LandCruiserPhil said:
I had what I thought to be very plausible arguement against this theory in a previous thread, and suggested as method for confirming it, for someone to add a different color grease or die into the knuckle housing several thousand miles prior to doing their knuckle service. Unfortunately I'm not due up for another one for 60k or so.
I'm by no means suggesting against a regular maintenance overhaul of the birfield.
Rookie2
Rookie2 said:
Moly only comes in one color, so that kills that theory. If you want to know if your axle seal is leaking, just remove the diff filler plug and stick your finger in it. If the oil has shiny particles in it under a flashlight and if it stinks, then its got moly in it. In that case, you need to rebuild your knuckles and replace the seals.
elmariachi said:
Some use Mobil 1 synthetic which is bright red. Probably not the best option as far as mixing different kinds of grease, and I don't believe the Mobil 1 is moly fortified. A better option might be to add some flourescent dye, that would be detectable if present in the grease under the correct light source.
Back to the "theory". This birfs are constantly spinning (when the vehicle is in motion) at a high rates. The inside of the birf is spherically shape, and there is significant centrifugal force created pushing the grease (out) towards the inner surface of the birf and then outward towards the knuckle cavity. Ever seen a centrifuge? If the tubes were placed vertical (instead of tilted towards the center), the fluid would climb the walls of the tubes and come out the top. If the birf housing were empty or significantly low in grease (obviously if you do routine overhauls, this should not be the case), I dare say much of the grease inside the birf would sling out. So there's force acting there.
I'm not suggesting a fluid exchange here, but to say there is no exchange taking place.. I find hard to believe.
You can tell me to shut up now
.My $0.02. Somebody check it for us!
Rookie2
So, when doing the knuckle job last weekend, I took the birf out, but not apart. I Used brake cleaner to clean them out and then slapped a ton of grease on the bearings and rotated it until the grease worked in. Based upon the centifugal theory, the grease will find its way down to the bearings right ? Is it necessary to take them apart ?
Beast II said:
If you cleaned the knuckle out and thoroughly repacked it, you won't need centrifugal force....packing it into the joint is sufficient.
