Gear oil? Leaking from wheel.

[TheReplay]

My rear passenger wheel staryed making a scraping/whirling noise. Sounding similar to a brake pad scraping (which i thought it was).

Notice liquid seeping out of the drum and down the tire.

Took the drum cover off and it was saturated in what looked/smelled like gear oil.

Originally i thought it might have been brake fluid mixed with all the dust so i changed the pads and the wheel cylinder. Took it for a short drive. Still making the scraping noise.

Took it back apart and noticed more oil seeping out/collecting.Swapped driver side drum cover and tire/wheel. Still making the scraping noise.

So im convinced a seal has gone bad and gear oil is leaking. The following pictures are after i initially cleaned it/replaced cylinder/pads... and then it started leaking again on the short drive i took.

The most recent things that might have affected it..? I had firestone rotate my tires and immediately after i noticed and felt a faint clunking/click when jerking the wheel left to right.

I drove with the ebrake on the next day by accident for about a quarter mile at low speed.

I drove about 300 miles during tropical storm bonnie and unfortunately couldnt see all the puddles on the highway.. the truck went swimming through a few of them @ highway speeds.

Any idea what i am looking at here?

[Upgrayedd]

Yeah, looks like your axle oil seal is shot IMO. The axle will have to come out but looking at the FSM it doesn't seem like it will be that bad of a job since you won't have to mess with the wheel bearing. That's assuming the bearings are ok and can stay assembled with the axle (looks like they can). Hopefully the sound you are hearing is just the bad seal and not the bearings, or both. Once the axle is out the oil seal is pried out with a screwdriver and a new one knocked in. I'd suggest replacing the diff fluid afterwards since more will leak out during the procedure.

I had to replace an axle seal years ago on my first car (a '73 Plymouth Satellite). At least with the R50 you don't have to open up the diff to remove a clip so the axle can be pulled out.

[Hawairish]

What he said. Though for clarification, the axle shaft is what gets removed (in case you got worried about the entire axle). Pulling the shaft is easy: disconnect brake line, disconnect parking brake cable from inside drum, remove 4 nuts on axle end, pull drum and axle shaft assembly. Changing the seal is easy. Changing the bearing (possible noise source) is not easy.

[TheReplay]

It would probably be safe to assume that the bearing is making the noise (or so i would think). Whats involved in this?

Would i be incorrect to think that replacing the seal will do nothing for the noise if it is the bearing?

[Upgrayedd]

My bad, axle shaft is what I meant.

If your bearing is bad too then replacing the seal won't fix it. If the bad bearing are what damaged the seal then the whole effort would be pointless without fixing them too.

Replacing the seal looks pretty easy but I'd probably take the axle shaft assembly to a shop and let them install new bearings. In fact if I were already in there I'd probably have the bearings replaced regardless just for good measure depending on price.

[Hawairish]

Agreed, on all points.

The axle, bearing, and brake assembly is all pressed together. A special tool (not something rentable) is required to pull the bearings and bearing retainer/cup off due to the length of the axle shaft.

The seal for sure needs changing. When you pull the axle shaft out, you should be able to tell quickly if the bearing needs replacing.

I have a related project that requires swapping around parts in the axle shafts, including bearings. Local shops wanted too much for parts and labor...ended up buying a floor press and will attempt it myself.

[Hawairish]

Also, judging by the houses in your pic, you're not near AZ. But, I have a pair of used, full axle shaft assemblies handy. We could talk about a straight swap, just cover two-way shipping so that I get yours back. I just need the axle shaft for my project (disc brake swap).