Grease in the brake drum...wtf?

[Wakko]

I pulled my wheels off to swap em out and noted a layer of "flung out" grease on the rears.  When I pulled the drums the shoes and internals were covered in grease!  I'm pretty sure it's not oil as it isn't as putrid smelling and it's thick, though it's filthy from the brake dust.  Only thing I can think of is when I did my axles a year ago I put too much grease in the outer bearings?  It was suggested that I wasn't supposed to put grease in there at all, and now it's worked it's way out.  Yes, I replaced the seals when I did the new bearings.

Any ideas?  I really don't feel like pulling the axles again.

[John_Kunkel]

There is a seal in the bearing retainer that keeps the axle bearing grease away from the brakes, if it fails the grease will sling out onto the brakes.

Even though it isn't "putrid smelling", the inner axle seals might be letting gear lube into the axle bearings. Pulling the axles is the only option.

[chargerbr549]

I had a similiar problem on my 69 Charger, after replacing the inner and outer seals and bearings on my 8 3/4 rearend I kept haviing problems with a mixture of grease and 90wt gear lube getting into my brakes and making a mess, I finally found the problem after losing some of my hair, the inner axles seals were actually driven into deep  and were barely sealing on the axle shaft, I don't know if chrysler had a special tool to set the depth of the seals or my axle housing was funky. The outer axle seals were made to seal grease and not 90wt gear lube.

I would check the vent first to see if its plugged, the way I do it is take some rubber fuel hose and wrap a rag around it and blow air into the filler hole and you should be able to blow air through the housing vent, if you can't then your vent is plugged. If your going to replace your seals I would probably recommend using National brand seals because they are a very heavy double lip seal, stay away from the CR brand, I think you will have better luck. I hope this helps

Kevin

[Todd Wilson]

I would check the vent first to see if its plugged, the way I do it is take some rubber fuel hose and wrap a rag around it and blow air into the filler hole and you should be able to blow air through the housing vent, if you can't then your vent is plugged.Kevin

That happens a lot on old trucks. Vent tube is plugged and the Diff cant breath and forces lube out the ends.


Todd

[Wakko]

Ok, good tips...I'll try to check that out this weekend.

[Headrope]

You sure it's axle grease and not brake fluid and mud? A wheel cylinder could be leaking causing a little bit of brake fluid to squirt onto your tire/drum each time you press the brake pedal. Dirt from the road could collect on the fluid making it gooey.

[Wakko]

Nah, the cylinders were dry..I checked.  The shoes definitely had actual grease on them and are now destroyed.  The car's together right now but not being driven.  I've been working OT every day so I haven't had time to tinker with it yet either.