A while ago I saw a topic on the Nest from somebody who was asking if the grease nipples on the rear axle of his Eagle were standard factory fittings or not.
Yesterday I decided to inspect and grease the rear wheel bearings. I welded a puller to extract the hub from the axle shaft but this did not work, the puller was to weak. At that moment I decided to take the whole assembly off. At the end I installed grease nipples on the rear axle for easy greasing the rear wheel bearings.
This is how I did it.
Remove the wheel, brake drum, brakeshoes an brake line. Undo the four bolts that holds the backingplate.
As the bearing slides into the axle (tight fit) you have to tap the whole assembly out. I made a piece of steel 1 ft or so, which hooks on the back of the hub and welded a plate on it on the other side so I could gently tap the whole assembly (out) off the axle without ruining the hub.
What you will see then is that there is space between the inner oil seal and the bearing. That is where you can drill a hole in the axle housing and put a grease nipple in. Be care full not to drill into the oil seal (which I did off course). Take the metal pieces out as the will ruin your bearings (this is why you have to take the whole assembly off, otherwise you cannot clean the axle from metal pieces).
Grease the bearing as far as you can, be careful that there is no dirt falling from the backingplate into the freshly smeared bearing..... Then install the four bolts and tighten them evenly (turn by turn crosswise) to press the bearing nicely into the axle. Further installation is the same as removal. Take the air out of the brakelines!
It takes a bit more than an our or so to fix each side depending on how handy you are wich installing the brakes (always a struggle Remove the wheel, brake drum, brakeshoes an brake line. Undo the four bolts that hold the backingplate.
Topic: Installing grease nipples on rear axle for easy greasing rear wheel bearings (Read 3659 times)