The last time my 2005 f250 was in for an e brake adjustment, the tech noted that I had a rear wheel seal leaking. I decided to replace it myself. After finishing the job I took the truck on the highway. Now I have squealing noise from that wheel and an intermittent thumping type sound. The wheel feels hot also. I'm pretty sure the squealing noise is the bearings but the thumping noise I can't figure out. The rear end is a 10.50 sterling. I must have done something wrong but I can't think of what I did wrong. Maybe I tightened the spindel nut too tight? I didn't really put any oil on the old bearings when I reinstalled them, because that type of axle the diff fluid lubes the bearings. Any suggestions would surely be appreciated. Thx
Maybe I made a mistake by not packing the bearings with lube. I thought that this particular axle lubed the bearings with diff oil. Did I screw up?

Does it have oil in it? Sounds like ya blew a bearin to me.

I'm just assuming it has some oil in it. Truck has 45000 miles on it. Only a small amount of diff oil came out when changing the seal. I will ck the oil level first thing tomorrow.

Do you know if the bearings on that year of truck need to be packed with grease?

Did you ever add any oil to it from the time ya found out that it was leakin to the time ya changed it?
Them should be lubricated by the oil in there. Im thinkin that its been run dry and that ya blew that bearin or worse. I ran a 9 inch dry on accident and it dropped the carrier and ring gear and took teeth off the gears. I wouldnt move that thing another inch till youve checked it out.

Yes I'm not going to drive till I ck it tomorrow. If that's the case I really made a stupid mistake. So you agree also that the bearings don't need to be packed with grease?

no grease, but a bit of oil on them when assembling never hurt. Thing to think about though, is that if it was leaking, depending how bad, the oil is not going to replace itself... it takes a bit of time for it to work back out there as well. It isn't a full bath setup, it rides up on the diff, then works it's way out on the shaft. Then it bathes the bearings after it gets out there. If it is low, then it doesn't get out there too well.

Somethin like that usually only happens once if ya learn from your mistakes.

Yes that a good point. I kinda thought it was more of a bath type thing. I wonder what the thumping noise is when cruising or decelerating. That sound was never there before I did this repair. I can actually feel the thump resonating under my feet on the floor of the truck.

Might check the stainless steel "sliders" that the pads ride on. Sometimes they can shift when installing the brakes and touch the rotors causing a squeal.

Do you think that would make the wheel very warm to the touch?

Hmm I always pack bearings with grease...anytime I take em out - even if I dont replace them. I didn't put a lot on my rear bearings when I replaced the brakes (My 78's got the floater diff), but I did pack the bearings good with grease. After the test drive, the hub was warm to the touch, but after some more driving, was ambient temp.

The only time I've noticed thumping like that (coming from the rear) was when I lost some teeth on a ring gear.

Did you replace the ring gear. If you had it done how much did it cost you? How did you lose the teeth on the ring gear, were you riding it hard offroad?

I haven't taken the the wheel and hub off yet to take a look. I think I did something pretty stupid. After staring at a few pics of the hub on another website, I have a sneaking feeling that I put the inner bearing back on backwards!! I'll know tomorrow night when I take it all apart. Geez I'm a dumba__!

Yeah, I went into some sand dunes pretty hard and the next day I was rounding a corner, hit the gas a little hard, spun the tires a little and thump thump thump lol. Oh well, had wanted to replace those gears for upgraded ratios anyway. Did a complete front and rear axle swap, welded in some metal lift blocks my buddy fabbed and voila - 13 in lift haha.