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How To Repack Your 4WD Front Wheel Bearings

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roundhouse:
I've never had it happen to anything I was maintaining

But I've bought a few trucks with a spun bearing that damaged the spindle and hub/rotor

One truck we bought had gotten so hot that it melted the plastic knob on the lockout


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Greybeard:
I've never had a front bearing fail but I always pack them via the glob of grease in the palm after cleaning them spotless with brake cleaner. I did have the rear bearings fail on a 14bFF because I was interrupted by a severe thunderstorm while doing a brake job once and when I got back to it I forgot I had torqued the retaining nut but never loosened it up (young and dumb so I never double checked), it cut and melted the rear spindle in half and the wheel came out going around a corner near my house. A quick jaunt to the salvage yard where I picked up another out of a van (van axles are wider by a few inches I believe), only that one turned out to have a Gov-lock in it and it still worked.

Don5:
I always put a glob of grease on the heel of my hand right below my thumb and push the bearing down into it. When you pack a bearing correctly you will have very little grease left on your hand. This was taught to me back in the day long before vacuum sealers and fancy grease packers. It worked back then and it still works today. The cost to my wallet has been zero. If you learn to do this correctly, you will always do it like this. Old school. Hey those guys must have known something huh? 

Greybeard:

--- Quote from: Don5 on September 03, 2015, 01:09:36 PM ---I always put a glob of grease on the heel of my hand right below my thumb and push the bearing down into it. When you pack a bearing correctly you will have very little grease left on your hand. This was taught to me back in the day long before vacuum sealers and fancy grease packers. It worked back then and it still works today. The cost to my wallet has been zero. If you learn to do this correctly, you will always do it like this. Old school. Hey those guys must have known something huh?

--- End quote ---

Woo Hoo!  8) The finer points of grease packing. One thing is technique, put the grease in through the end of the bearing and push it out the cage not the other way around. That way the edge of the bearing scrapes all the grease off the palm. And for those inexperienced in cleaning bearings, never use gasoline or diesel fuel to fine clean a bearing, they can be used to get the heavy gunk off but always use something that does not leave a residue for the final cleaning (brake cleaner or similar) and never spin a clean dry bearing, especially with compressed air. Any residue keeps the grease from bonding with the steel and forming a barrier. It's anal I know, but in forty years of doing this, never had a bearing fail from improper packing. I learned from the old pros. Some things just cannot be improved. Of course, we all know California finds fault in everything, and as such everything in their eyes causes cancer; so if you believe that nonsense, pack them so you don't get your hands dirty. But remember not to breath while doing so because grease fumes probably cause cancer too (at least from their point of view).   ;)

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