Rotational resistance of rear hub?

[thundermcawesum]

Hi all,
You usually see my skulking around the parts forum or restoring wiper motors, but I’ve decided to actually do things on my own rig!

Problem: rear drivers wheel locks up, and hub seems to have a lot of resistance to turning.
Both rear wheels off ground, rear drive shaft disconnected, and drum pulled off. I hung 10.5 lbs from one of the studs, and it has a lot of trouble turning. See video. I changed the gear oil 5 years ago with royal purple if I remember correctly, but it’s been sitting since.

Any ideas?

 

[brian]

open the cover and look inside

 

[iwashmycar]

Is it only that side?

It should move rather freely, so yeah - that's not good.

 

[rlong]

As you turn the (one) axle it typically turns the spider gears in the differential and the makes the other axle turn in the opposite direction (unless one or the other axle is restricted from turning then the pinion flange turns). So quite a few components are moving (Both axles in their axle bearings as well as the spider gears). I can't tell if yours is too much, but try both sides and feel if there equal, it does take a bit of force to start all the movement, but then tends to move easier.. (somewhat as seen in your video).

 

[charliemeyer007]

You could open the fill plug and fish around inside on the bottom with a magnet on stiff wire.

 

[peesalot]

cold synthetic, if you spin it by hand a bit does it feel smooth and consistent or ratchety ? Have you grabbed pinion, checked for loosness and rotated pinion to feel for condition ?

 

[thundermcawesum]

cold synthetic, if you spin it by hand a bit does it feel smooth and consistent or ratchety ? Have you grabbed pinion, checked for loosness and rotated pinion to feel for condition ?

It takes more force to get it started, but once it does it’s smooth and takes less force to keep it moving. I failed to note that it is in the mid 30s F temperature wise. The other wheel turns more freely.
I will check the pinion today!

 

[igotta40]

If it’s just the one axle, with all else seeming normal, I would suspect a seized wheel bearing. Not very likely though.

 

[thundermcawesum]

If it’s just the one axle, with all else seeming normal, I would suspect a seized wheel bearing. Not very likely though.

I think this may be somewhat likely. The front bearings went a few years ago, and I’m sure sitting one place for 3 years on its wheels did it no favors.

 

[thundermcawesum]

If it’s just the one axle, with all else seeming normal, I would suspect a seized wheel bearing. Not very likely though.

Now that I go back and listen to the video, there is a grinding noise I didn’t notice last night.

 

[peesalot]

what if you get it moving smooth & easier then reverse direction ? it will have a slight free spot while reversing then you should feel it pick up the gears and go as smoothly in opposite direction. what do you feel, use bare hands on the axle flange. I am sticking with cold synthetic which is gonna mask any bearing issue so disassembly is the way to check bearings further.