gear oil gone wild

[DonaldSmith]

Well, I replaced the pinion seal on my 47 DeSoto Suburban, not too difficult, after ordering the right seal.  Now to refill the rear axle with gear oil (available SAE 80W-90).

It comes in a nice bottle with a pointy cap.  Snip the end off, and squirt the oil in, I guess. 

 

No room to tip the bottle up.  My lowering blocks keep the axle up a few inches higher than stock.  The gas tank is in the way. Also, the sway bar is claiming its own territory.   Get some tubing, heat the end, and force it over the pointy bottle cap. Lodge the bottle above the sway bar, and let gravity do its work.  (Photo keeps coming over upside down).   

Gravity not enough for oil this viscous.  

 

Hold the bottle vertically above the axle.  (The tubing decides to slip off.) Gravity now no hindrance the flow of oil all over the place.

Rig a funnel with flexible tubing above the axle and manually pour from the bottle into the funnel.  Going great, until the funnel overflows and I drop the bottle. 

(Seldom-used cuss words.)

 

Time out.  Commiserate with the guys. Maybe even take suggestions.    I do have a HF manual pump.  Does it pump uphill?  What works?     

[Sniper]

They do make a pump specifically for this job, I bought it at the parts store I got my gear oil from.  Screws into the bottle.  Also, setting the bottle of gear oil out in the sun to warm up while you prep really helps, if it's winter a bucket of hot water does it.

 

Example pump

 

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/BK_19191

 

 

[DonaldSmith]

Thanks! 
A gear lube pump!  

[Robert5]

Or you can use a brake bleeding tool to put the gear oil in.

[Veemoney]

I used a short 2-3inch rubber oil line over the end of the bottle tube. I snip the tip of the bottle on a diagonal and leave the last rib to help hold the hose in place. Then  raise as you did and give the bottle a squeeze to help flow. Did the 4-speed the same way. No issues with rubber hose coming off or mess with either one. Good Luck. 

[plymouthcranbrook]

I use one similar to this:

https://www.amazon.com/Performance-Tool-W54220-Suction-Grease/dp/B000N322U0

 

Edited August 17, 2021 by plymouthcranbrook

[Tooljunkie]

Find a tube to fit through the fancy fill tip. Cut tip so the tube will slide in and still be snug. Tube to near bottom of bottle and hold bottle upright. Squeeze bottle to fill. Release to let more air in and repeat. Its slow, but sometimes you have to work with what you got. 
i since bought a pail pump,and pour in a gallon and pump away. 

[DonaldSmith]

Update:

 

To fill the pumpkin, I used the pump that fits the gear oil bottle.  Then I did the DreamCruise.  I drove across Woodward to the Olds Club hangout in front of the Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica.  (They let me park there because our K of C Grand Knight, who got the Olds Club there in the first place, bragged up my car, and told them to be on the lookout.)  The car got some Ooos and Ahhs from onlookers.  But when I left, there was a puddle of gear oil on the pavement. 

 

I had measured the housing I.D wrong, so the seal was too big around.  I had barely pushed it in with a block of wood and some washers behind the pinion flange nut.  So the seal popped out.  And of course the gear oil level is supposed to be above the bottom of the seal. 

 

I ordered a new seal.  Then I concentrated on getting a better pusher.  I finally measured the I. D. better.  Should have gotten the 3-1/8" seal instead of the 3-3/16" seal.  I ground a large washer to 3-5/32", and collected a number of other large washers.

 

Today, with a sandwich of washers, I cranked on the pinion flange nut, and pushed the new seal in place.  I think it's firmly in place, even though the face of the seal is now concave.  I'm 27 percent confident that it won't leak.   

 

Oh, and when I tried to reconnect the drive shaft, the bearing caps fell off, and one roller stubbornly stuck to the bottom of the cap, keeping things from bolting together.   (But better than flying off to regions unknown.)  Some axle grease held the rollers in place while I held everything together and got it bolted up - 180 degrees off.  Unbolt, rotate, re-bolt.  

 

Will I be doing this again in the near future?  Stay tuned.    

   

[rallyace]

Go to a marine supply house and get a lower unit gear oil pump. They are about $10. It will screw onto the gear oil bottle and you can pump the oil into the trans or diff. Much neater and cleaner than trying to squirt it in.

[DonaldSmith]

I've got a pump that screws into the bottle.  I got it on line, from somewhere.  I'll remember when I get the charge card bill.  It works slick.  So I've got replacing the pinion oil seal down to a system.