I'm not a mechanic and have undertaken replacement of the rear axle bearings and brake components, on my '88 Chev V-10 Suburban. During this truck project, I've found mistakes that prior mechanics have left unfixed. In removing the old noisy bearings, I noticed that they were not greased. As a newbie, I'm being careful to do everything right. The Chilton manual says to pack the new bearings with grease. The GM manual refers to the maintenace section, where there is no mention of rear axle bearings, but indicates gear oil in the differential. To grease or not to grease, that is the question. Is there a reason not to? Will the gear oil and grease contaminate each other, or what? This seems like a small issue, but important to me. Thanks.
CK5
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RR Semi-Floating Axle Bearing question
- Thread starter GaBnn3
- Start date
When I replace my rear axle bearings I soak them in gear oil before I install them. That way they aren't running dry when I drive the truck for the first time after installation. The only place I use grease is on the axle seals. 
Rick
Rick
Ton answer your question, the axle bearings recieve their lube from the differential gear oil so you do not want to grease them but however like was said, you don't want them to be run dry the first time they are driven on so make sure you lube them with gear oil prior to re-installing the axles.
