How to pack a wheel bearing.
The take away message here is you can’t just smear grease on a bearing. You have to force grease between the rollers. They make a tool so you can use a grease gun, but doing it by hand is much more fun (and satisfying). First, get a big gob of bearing grease on the palm of one hand.
Then, in little bites, scrape the grease off your palm with the outer edge of the bearing’s roller cage. Here I’m doing the front wheel bearings for the dana 44 I’m putting in the suburban.
You know you’ve got it when you can see grease come out the top of the bearing like above. Then rotate the bearing till you get the whole thing.
I have experience with the wash board roads. i brought two spares for the rough road as rocks damage the sidewalls even at slow speeds. luckily i was able to get three flats!
Comment by David Chance — June 21, 2006 @ 5:25 am
Canadore College, in North Bay, Ontario, Canada, is working on a project for the Canadian Department of National Defence to develop a six-week course for 15-16 year old air cadets. Upon completion, the lessons will be owned by the Department of National Defence. One of our lessons is on grease lubrication and we are requesting permission to use a photograph from your website (http://gastiresoil.blogsome.com/2006/04/07/how-to-pack-a-wheel-bearing/). If permission is granted, the photo will be embedded into a PowerPoint presentation and will be printed in a Student Workbook for the cadets.
If approved, credit will be given as per your requirements.
Thank you very much for your consideration.
Comment by Debbie Bridge — May 15, 2008 @ 3:04 pm
Most of the newer trucks and cars have hub assemblies that are pre packed bearings, so people should not that they may not be able to pack or repack their wheel bearings.
Comment by Wheel Bearings — May 8, 2009 @ 8:36 pm
Disgusting! Looks like an open wound! …
Comment by Christian — October 20, 2009 @ 12:13 pm