Dan s

Can u swap a single rear axle to a dually. When I ask this I mean by changing the hubs.

thrub

I'm pretty sure the dually axles are narrower. Not sure how much though.

Dan s

that’s what I was thinking too

oliver foster

If you want a dually axle under there. The way to do it is roll the SRW axle out from under it and roll a dually axle under it to replace it.

Freight shipping it would be a few $, but I have a bunch of dually axles as well.
You could also upgrade to a 2nd gen Dana 80 Dually axle while doing it. They also run just a little wider than the 1st gen Dully axles.

Dan s

The reason I ask is because the rear end in the flatbed keeps blowing out the seal on the drivers side. I cleaned the seal area with scotch brite pad the last time I done it. Less than a week ago And it’s leaking again. Is it possible that I put to much in it or could the vent line be stopped up and letting it build pressure. I’m gonna check that when I get back home. Had to run to town to get heater hose.

oliver foster

I see those axle vents plug up often on my own drivers.
The first thing I would do is pull the vent and hose off, clean it up and make sure you can blow through it easily.

Seems like I have to do it every few years on my trucks as they get plugged up with oil and dirt. Living on a dirt road probably doesn't help.

u2slow

Any dodge DRW axle housing is wider than the 1stgen SRW. Hubs are different too.

Dan s

Thanks everyone for the input. After a visit to the parts store I figured out that the rear ended only holds 3 1/2 guarts. That seems low to me. I put a gallon and a half in it when I cleaned up the inside of the axle housing. I may just let it bleed a couple of days to see if it stops. I’m definitely going to check the vent line today

Dan s

So before I shut done the shop tonight I had a thought. Now I know that most rearends u just fill up till they run gear oil out the fill up hole. But with this one it looks like to me that if I only put 3 1/2 quarts in that the oil would never make it to the bearings. Maybe I’m wrong. Anybody?

jimbo486

If I'm not mistaken, the spindle size between a SRW and DRW axles differ to some extent. At the least, the hubs are different. Two different wheel seals show up upon searching specifying with or without a 9,000lbs axle with differing shaft/bore sizes.

jimbo486

In most cases, the fill level is generally supposed to be up to the bottom of the axle tube's inner bore. Wheel bearings should be packed prior to installation but some people don't even pack bearings anymore and just soak them in oil. Some gear oil eventually finds its way to the wheel ends from the differential housing among driving but doesn't have any adversely affect on bearing grease, if any is present. Personally, I feel that gear oil is for gears and bearing grease is for, well, bearings.

u2slow

Spindle has same ODs; DRw can be thicker wall. Hub has a different offset and larger OD inner bearing/race. Dodge DRW is a 7500# axle typically; our SRWs (6000#?) use the "9000#" seal - go figure. The problem is the part notes aren't dodge context.

KRB

What he said.

nothingbutdarts

I would have to argue with this statement, I have been working on class "A" trucks since the late 70's, some trucks had wheel bearing grease for the steering axle & some just used gear oil from the factory. Worked on a lot of trucks that had 3 or 4 hundred thousand miles or more that all had gear oil in the drive axles lubricating the wheel bearings & it was specified by the axle manufacturer. Sure sometimes you have too replace axle seals, usually because of not being adjusted properly or excessive heat from riding the brakes.

KRB

From what I've gleaned from everything I've read is that, at least on these trucks, you pack the bearings with grease and then with driving (curves, slopes, etc) the gear oil sloshes out to the bearings and keeps them coated. Fill the pumpkin to the level of the fill hole and the gears splash the oil onto everything that needs it. Every time I've opened up a rear or front axle it's still had grease in it and wasn't "washed out" by the oil and I never really noticed much either. I think one of the stickies here talks about after repacking an axle to jack up either side or park on a side slope to redistribute the gear oil to the ends.

The front axle bearings have no gear oil, just packed with grease. Most of the closed knuckles I've had/worked on that started out in life with gear oil ended up with grease to avoid or "fix" leaky knuckle seals.

IDK, just my observations/readings...