94 B350 Ram Van needed brakes but when I pulled the axle I noticed the bearings are backed in what appears to be red and tacky. I have never heard of packing these bearing in any type of grease, only to mix with the differential fluid later.

Could this be fluid with water in it or did someone really pack the bearings with bearing?
If grease, should I flush out the differential?

Tried a few times to upload a pic but no matter what I do it is HUGE. Could not edit the size so I will just add a link here

Thank you for looking

 

This is what my 99 3500 van, driverside rear brake assembly looked like a few months ago having pulled the drum to inspect after some time not doing so (maybe 30k- 4-5 years or so after having rear end replacement work done on it) ... The axle seal and wheel cylinder had failed and the lower longer shoe spring had snapped in two.

Pulled the axle out too but was is good shape and still clean inside. With all that mess being inside, (being no expert here) I'd say definitely say yes to pull cover and an inpection- flush/change of differential oil! What's the other side look like, I wonder?

 

And change the brake shoes too..... don't forget to THOROUGHLY clean the drum.......

 

first, this is my neighbors truck, not mine.

unlike jfloors, this issue is not a leaking seal. this is bearing grease. spoke with the neighbor last night and he said he had a friend of a friend replace a broken lug stud. only thing I can think is that this friend of a friend doesn't know what a floating rear end is. he treated it like spindle bearings. I assume.

opened the other side up and there is no grease so only the one side is affected.

how much "cleaning" should I do? should I flush the entire differential or just clean the one side?
what damage would a little grease mixed with the fluid cause?

 

My apology for possibly throwing off " Heyou's" reply to your problem. My problem has been resolved a few months ago.

My purpose for the photo was to show what differential gear oil mixed with something else (in my case brake fluid) might look like. The only answer I can give is that the differential oil should not be contaminated, that's why it's sealed in. rearend work ain't cheap (I know personally on my rig) so if I were you find a way to flush/clean affected parts and get new gear oil in there imho...

 

Ok, I see what I am looking at now.....

The grease won't hurt anything, so, no need to pull it apart and clean it, just do the brakes, and call it a day. The red crap is just doing the same job the gear lube wants to do. A bit of redundancy there isn't going to hurt anything. You can wipe down the axle if ya like.

Are you going to pull the hub to do the brakes? I generally don't.....

 

That is a load of good news. Thanks.Going to change the fluid anyway but not having to flush it is a huge load off.

not sure how that is possible. this is a '94 Dana 60 rear end in a 2 wheel drive B350 1 ton minibus.

 

Won't the drums pull off the hub? Granted, they have been on there a while, and likely have 'become one' with the hub.... but, a big hammer, and some effort, will usually break 'em loose.

 

no. the studs are driven through the drum, then through the hub. are removed as one piece.

 

Oh geez. I hate those. One of the stupider designs I have seen....... Dodge likes to do that on the front rotors on the 3/4 and 1 ton trucks too. Really annoys me.