2000 Alpine Front Hub Leaking Slightly

[jbenalpine]

For the last several years, both my front hub cap sight glasses dribble a very small amount of lube around the center vent plug. The level has hardly changed but it's leaking and getting on the wheels. The rubber vent plug seems to have gotten old and hard and no longer seals around the OD of the vent plug. So today I did some research and thought others might find this useful. The entire hub caps on mine are SKF CR1613 units and the vent plug is SKF PN 453807. I ordered just the vent plug thru my local truck shop for about $1.50 each. They arrive in several days and I'll let you know how it works out and hopefully I'll have one more item off my list.

[Dave Fernandez]

Thanks for the info.

[DrDaveMA]

They are also available from Amazon.


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[EngineerMike]

If they leak while driving, the reservoir is over full. There is a line on the clear plastic reservoir part indicating full, about 1/4" or so down from the rim of the reservoir w/the plug out.
Its common to overfill as the Fill line isn't visually obvious.

[Old Scout]

The Stemco hub is pretty common--most TA truck centers have the red plug and 6-bolt cover gasket in stock. Lots of heat build in this area--the red plugs lose their shape over time and begin to leak a bit--cheap fix to replace them.....
PS--our Alpine hubs have a large hollow inside and contain a significant amount of oil--accordingly, oil level is not that critical, so dont overfill. However, bearing pre-load is important, so recommend checking the pre-load every 50k miles, or so.....

[jbenalpine]

Just a follow up on my hub cap plug replacement. After getting the wrong plug (453807, listed earlier, I bad) the correct ones for the SKF CR1613 hub caps were SKF PN 453879. The original plugs got hardened were no longer tight in the holes. Yes I'm making especially sure it's not overfilled. Thanks for forum's help.