56 Desoto rear end wheel bearings and zirk fittings

[jonkmahl]

Hi folks, hope you had as nice an Independence day here as I did.

I pulled the axles on this rear end to replace the leaky seals and found the bearings and races were toast. Chunks missing out of the races.

I have read somewhere (cant remember) about the rear ends having zirk fittings to allow for greasing the wheel bearings as they have no means of lubrication other than the initial wheel bearing packing.

The rear end has no fittings but blanks where they should be.

My questions are:

1- Do I drill these out to put in fittings ( and if so what does it take drill bit and thread wise to make it work) or

2- should I just pack the bearings before inserting and packing the cavity with grease and call it ok.

3-  And I always used long staple grease for wheel bearings but cant seem to find it just disc brake grease. Differences? Is that Ok to use?

 

Thanks Yall.

 

[Young Ed]

The earlier cars have plugs not blanks. You remove the plugs and push some grease in there. I use a fitting but you have to be careful not to blow the seals

[jonkmahl]

is it like a rubber plug in there? Didnt seem to be able to push anything through from either side. The axle and bearing and seals are all out at this point. Suggestions on other questions? Just pack the bearings and the cavity and call it ok?

[Jerry Roberts]

Those that I have seen have had a steel threaded plug , probably the smallest size of pipe thread . As long as you have things apart , I think that you should put in a threaded plug so that you don't have to pull your axles every time that you want to ad a little grease to the bearing . There are two common sizes for the grease fittings , the older fittings have a larger threaded base . I would just use a modern grease for disk brake bearings . You can then grease your bearings with a zert fitting . A Ed said ... not too much pressure . Grease with the zert and then put in the plug , or grease with the zert and then unscrew the zert for a minute to release any pressure . Is there anything in your shop manual on the subject ?

[jonkmahl]

Negative on the shop manual, this is a 51 Dodge B3-3 someone replaced the rear with the different rear end. I have a manual for the Dodge but not the Desoto.

There seems to be no way to remove any plug on the rear, nothing such as a means of removing it, that is such as a place to put a wrench.

The rear end has 1141544 56 with a () in a square box cast on it.

Because the brakes config was odd I searched and found the matching brake system on a Desoto rear end.

I havent checked for any other numbers under it.

Spiine count was 15 or so. 

always sumpin.

[greg g]

My p15 has square headed plugs on the outer ends of the axle.  My lube charts says to unscrew the plug and force bearing grease in with your thumb.  It definitely says not to install zerks as even a manual grease gun will over pressure the seals.

[DJK]

If you have it apart, pack the bearings with grease and some in the cavity, just don't completely fill the cavity.

[jonkmahl]

ok Thanks guys. Makes life easier for sure. Cheers.

[Jerry Roberts]

It seems strange that mopar would have a bearing that you can't easily lubricate . I'll bet that there is a threaded hole there that is full of dried grease , dirt , and rust . Someone didn't put the plug back in place . 

[soth122003]

Plymouth manual 46-54, states use short fiber grease 1/2 ounce using a low pressure grease gun. every 2 years or 20,000 miles.

pg 311 lube and maintenance.

 

Joe Lee

[Jerry Roberts]

Could this be a later rear end that lubes the bearings from the differential oil ?

[jonkmahl]

No, I did clean up the old as grease and grime and found that there were bolts that I was able to remove to find it possible to grease externally.

Thanks for all the great replies and information.

[greg g]

Please mark this thread as answered.