Wonderful thread you guys have here. Some comments; the housing axle seals in a 9" ford do not stop diff. grease from getting to the wheel bearings. And they damn sure don't keep oil off the wheel bearings in fast cornering cars such as a cobra. The main reason they are there is to provide a vapor barrier protection for the seal surface of the wheel bearing. That rubber wheel bearing seal will rot faster without them being in there, leading to premature wheel bearing failure, in theory anyhow. That said, I'm going to give up a secret here though.
I haven't put axle seals back in ANY housing in any performance car for quite some time, years actually. They rub and give your car rolling resistance, so out they go!
Now as for your oil leak. Putting silicon around the edges of the outside of the wheel bearing will not stop that leak. The right thing to do is to pull the wheel bearing, silicone up the housing and the whole outside circumferance of the bearing, and put the whole slimmey works back into the housing. Won't leak any more I'd bet. As for wheel bearing failure, if you use new wheel bearings, those bearings will most likely out live us all if you don't put any axle seals back in. If you choose to put them back in, all you have to do is tap them in with a big socket. I usially chisel those bad boys out.
If I remember right, on 9" Fords with the big wheel bearings the seal goes out. With small bearings the seal side goes in. The seal that you see on the small bearings is really a partial seal, so I was told at Mosers years ago. The real seal is inside the bearing unseen on small bearings. Another trick is to buy the late model wheel bearings that have a rubber O ring on the outside of the wheel bearing. This O ring will butt up to the housing for a better oil seal. I can't remember if the small bearings have the O ring but off hand I'm sure they come with and without a O ring too. On some cars I've seen two O rings on wheel bearings too.
Finally, check the housing vent and make sure it's open. On almost all the cars I've ever fooled with, I'd say about 80% of the time they are closed up with dirt, esp. on high mile cars and on junk yard rear ends. If stopped up your rear end will build up pressure when hot and force oil out in places a otherwise vented rear end would not leak in. Hope this stuff makes some since to you guys.
cobrashock - veteran of the 9 inch war.
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