Rear Axle Lubrication Points

[Gunslinger]

Gents,
I just picked up an M38A1, was doing research on it on G503 and in some service manuals, one gent on the G who seems knowlegable noted that the M38A1 and CJ series jeeps are supposed to have a grease zerk located on the rear axle just inside of the brake drums.  I've not seen anything on my 3A that would indicate that there should be one there, however the M38A1 looks like there were zerks there at one time.  Anybody have any definitive information on grease points on the 3A axle.  this gent was pretty insistent that it was a critical lube point.
Thanks

[specialty]

The zerks on my 3A where hard to find. The fittings were gone but after cleaning them out I found where they went. If you look from the rear of the vehicle you should see them if they are there. They are sort of facing you. Mine was filled with trash and after cleaning the holes out they work fine. I think you are only suppose to give them a few pumps of grease as not to contaminate the brake lining if I remember correctly. Tje photo is from the rear of the right side of the Jeep. If you look closely you can see the bottom brake adjusters. Good luck.

[64CJ5]

My 64 Cj 5 and my 52 M-38 have these zerks.  I give them five pumps from my grease gun when I lube every thing and change the oil.

[specialty]

I think a lot of times over the years the zerks get broken off and not replaced. I cleaned  the holes out on mine that were stopped up with hard grease and dirt when I put in new bearings and brakes. I don't know if they could be opened up otherwise unless possibly with a small drill bit.

[Gunslinger]

Thanks guys,
Looks like I have some work to do on my back today
Good thing its warmed up, it was 17 this morning, yesterday was -5 at coffee time.
By the way, all you Eagles and Patriots Fans, we've got the lamp poles all greased up for you here in Minneapolis, good luck Sunday.

[TomJ]

Gunslinger:

I just happen to have a Dana 44 on the bench right now. I have been in the process of rebuilding this axle to put in my �49 CJ3. These pictures might help you see where the zerts are located.



This is the driver side, the widening of the axle housing is where the outside bearing and race are located. I�ll show that in the next pic.


You can see from this one how that zert feeds onto the bearing.



Other side.



You can see here that the comment above about just giving this a few squirts is right on. To much grease here will just squeeze it out into your brake assemblies and make a big mess.

Hope this helps, I�ve been wrestling with this rebuild for months as I�ve had to school myself on each step. It�s rare to get a chance to see some of this stuff without 50 years of grease and crud caked on it.

Tom

[Gunslinger]

Thanks Tom,
Good Pics, can't wait to see your build.  I know the feeling about "schooling along the way"  I named my Jeep Triple X, because it took three tries before I got most things right...

I did crawl under it last night and found the zerks on the 3A, the M38 just had the remnants of zerks but I was able to get them out and replace.  I've got a brake job planed on the 3A so I'll get a good look at the bearing side when I do that.

Thanks for the help guys.

[specialty]

good luck!

[TomJ]

Gunslinger,

That�s a great name and you sure make me feel better by describing your learning curve. I�ve felt like I cannot get anything right without having to do it two or three times and wondered if it was just me. I blew up the back axle on my CJ3 and decided to put a Dana 44 with a LockRite on it. Needless to say every step presented issues and when I finally got it together ended up having to take it completely apart to install one piece I didn�t think I needed. Quite a process.
At any rate, it�s ready to go back on and will leave only the front axle as the only part of the Jeep I have not had completely apart at some point. 
I hoping for the day I do more driving than wrenching.

Cheers
Tom