My axle seal is leaking and my dumbass didn't take any pictures last time I had it apart. Is there anyway to tell if it's a 55-56 or a 57 rearend from the outside. I know that the '57 housings have a drain plug, is there anything else so I can be 100%. I'm not sure if you can mix bearings and housings. And how far back would you go and trust the rubber seal...like a 90s NORS Timken? I want to order parts before I take it apart in my driveway.
If anyone else needs this info, here's what I found so far: https://www.trifive.com/threads/axle-seal-help.197900/
Non Posi. I see that the bearings are physically smaller, so I would guess it has to be a 55-56 rear. That's good to know.....now I found some on eBay, USA Timken/BCA or Rockauto has them also but unknown country of origin...hmmm.
I just found some old NORS BCA bearings in my stash, they look like 60s or 70s, we'll see if the rubber holds up.
see how the grease feels, also. I think the last time I put an NOS wheel bearing in an old Chevy, it didn't last real long.
The box graphics look like 50s/60s. The manual shows how to replace the seals but doesn't say about adding anything grease wise. Mine axle is 55-56 btw. Here's more info: https://www.trifive.com/threads/rep...only-or-bearings-and-all.154002/#post-1681655
Not all 57 and up rears have drain plugs. I bought 2 1960 Chevy rears I used one under my 53 Chevy (I cut the coil spring mounts off and put leaf mounts on it.) neither one had drain plugs. The only way to tell is the axle bearing size.
I'm back home now but still going to my moms daily, so I can get little things done now. The '41 rear puked in the driveway on the last cruise around Halloween, I smelled gear oil as I was coming down the street. I only had time to clean up the mess and let it sit until now. I'm going to pull it out this week to make sure it's a 55-56. I also found a service bulletin about the '56 rear bearings, the '55 was open on the inside and lubed by gear oil the new '56 bearing is sealed (steel on the outside and a lip seal on the inside). The bulletin says to service the '56 bearing pop the inner seal, clean out if any gear oil is inside, add 1 1/4 teaspoons front wheel bearing grease and put the new seal in. The seals I have look like the same ones but I'll find out as 1 bearing seems tight like old grease. All the bearings I have are in the original box and wax paper (and not rusty). Hopefully the newer shoes are ok. Here's what I have: Here's the bulletin:
I’ll be darn, I never knew the seal on a sealed bearing was replaceable. Edit: Just a thought if price is the same, could you use the ‘55 bearings? Or did maybe they had issues leaking/seeping?
From what I gather the seals that I have (National 5458) MIGHT fit as there where many different manufactures for the bearings. So IF mine do fit then I can only say they fit the older BCA bearings. If I remember correctly I got the lot (5 bearings) for $65-$70 and just got the last one for $30 on eBay (had to have complete sets ). I got some synthetic hi temp bearing grease to put in there, I'll take apart the stiffest one out of the bunch in case the seal doesn't fit.
I can say that the National 5458 seal (sold under a few names also) WILL fit the BCA 5w507er bearing.
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