Community Forums

howientrixie · 01-04-2015, 07:04 AM

I have a 2002 Monaco Windsor 40' that I just put new Michelins on. I drove 45 miles to a campground and during set up I noticed some black grease on my aluminum rim. It was on the drivers side dually only and by the streaks I could see that the grease spun out from the center stainless steel hub cover. Enough grease spun out to form a band about 1 inch wide and 1/16th inch thick all the way around the inside of my formerly polished rim. Fortunately it cleaned right up with a little Simple Green and while cleaning I noticed it seemed like old, almost dried out, black grease. I attributed the grease to just having the wheels off. But now I am wondering why it occurred on just one set of wheels and could it be a sign of a hub seal leaking. I have not driven the coach yet to see if will continue to leak more grease. I sure appreciate the advice and insight that I receive on this forum. http://www.irv2.com/forums/images/sm...coolsmiley.gif

palehorse89 · 01-04-2015, 07:11 AM

Hello, If it were me, I would pull the axle cover off to be able to see inside of it to find out what is going on, If the axle cover is leaking, you will know as soon as the chrome cover is removed......Make sure all the cover nuts are tight.

Hurk · 01-04-2015, 08:43 AM

I had my tires just replace and they used a brown colored grease to install tires one tire had quite a bite other cud not see any but small feel. Do you see any on other tires?

Dr4Film · 01-04-2015, 08:51 AM

I would drive it more to see if it continues plus I would also take it back to the tire installation service shop for them to take a look-see.

What you don't want is for any grease/oil to get onto the brake shoes in the rear drums.

BTW, I have never had any such occurrence on my 2002 Windsor with 72,000 miles on the ODO.

Dr4Film ----- Richard

jacwjames · 01-04-2015, 09:19 AM

I would check the level of oil in your differential and see if it is low.

The gear oil in your diff is probably 75W90. If it did come out of the end of the differential it would have had to migrate out from the rear hub cover and then down the wheel. With the heat and the wind it would dry out to a thick paste.

Pull off the hub cover and see if the end cap seal is leaking, check to see if all the bolts are tight. If you see visible leak I would pull end cap, check to see if there is a problem, and then reattach the end cover. The cover may have an O-ring type seal or other type.

Keep us posted on your findings & fix

BTW, I have ~+100K on my 2002 Windsor and have not seen this occur.

Mike Canter · 01-04-2015, 10:14 AM

I had my hub leak on the rear and sure didn't look like black grease. It looked just like thr rear gear oil. I found the hub nuts on that sie re loose. I was on the road and didn't have th true specs so I just torqued them down to 100 ft lbs. still leaked so when I got home I looked up the torque specs and for mine it was 170 ft lbs. torqued them down and it stopped leaking. The hub only uses a paper gasket. No oring. It is pretty hard to damage that gasket unless you take the hub off. My guess is that if it doesn't look to gear oil then it is not gear oil but still worth looking up the torque specs and checking them as well as checking the differential oil level. That level has to be up to the threads of the fill plug not a little lower. If it is a little lower then the hub bearings don't get oiled correctly and can burn up the bearings.

CFXCH · 01-04-2015, 11:38 AM

Two years ago I had rear end oil leak out on the rims out of the drive axle. . I would clean them up and next trip it was back again. Took it to The Peterbilt Truck Centre in Yuma AZ and yes the rear axle seal was leaking differential oil but not enough to lower the level to dangerous levels. They pulled the axle and instead of using that thin paper seal they used silicone as a seal. The mechanic told me they have done this for several years now on all the big rig axle leaks. Total Labour was less than 2 hours and as I recall the bill was around $100. Axle has not leaked since the fix.

CampingCajun · 01-04-2015, 02:53 PM

If it smells bad it probably is oil from the differential.

Mike Canter · 01-04-2015, 03:22 PM

Or a big dog used your wheel for a potty stop.

howientrixie · 01-07-2015, 02:24 PM

Well I did check the oil level in the differential and it was way low. I added two and a half quarts of oil. I guess I will take it in for a new seal real soon. I did try to take off the hub cover but I was unsuccessful, it was on super tight and I didn't want to scratch the cover up. I am not sure how to take the cover off without damaging anything, but if I did get it off I am sure I would find signs of leakage. After all that oil went somewhere. Thank you all for the comments.

Mike Canter · 01-07-2015, 02:48 PM

If your covers are like mine, what they call a top hat, only the outer end comes off. The end cap has a seam and you will see s small cutout in that seam that lets you insert a straight slot screwdriver to carefully pry it off.

Also, sometimes when the fill a differential at the factory they don't wait until the oil flows through a small hole into the hub area and check it again. This causes the oil level to be low later and the dealer should check it but you know how that goes. So the fact that your differential was low on oil may not mean you have a leak. So you should check the hubs for leaks and check the oil level maybe once or twice a season until the level is stable. It should be checked with the oil warm because it expands.

wa8yxm · 01-07-2015, 03:43 PM

Had that problem turned out to be a gasket, not a seal, easily replaced (Far easier than the seal) but I would recommend having a dealer or service center do it... (Unless that is you know how) takes 1 hr labor (or less if they bill that way). I was unwilling to attempt it myself.