Packing Bearings

[soobscript]

Going to be packing my front wheel bearings when I do my brakes, but I've never packed bearings before...

 

I have a tub of RonexMP hi-temp bearing grease, hammers and wood for "assembly", and Haynes and Chilton manuals (that are pretty vague on my '88 RX).

 

What else do I need?

Special tool to take apart?

Seals?

 

Also, do I need any parts for all-corner brake job beside pads and rotors?

[Ross]

A dirft is useful for disassebly, bu tif you are planing on re using the bearings, make sure you only tap on the outer race, and make sure you dont damage the cage.

[idosubaru]

i picked up some brake caliper rebuild kits for like $7.65 for BOTH sides on the internet somewhere for my XT6. great deal, two rebuilt brake calipers for less than 10 dollars. it was super easy to do. much easier than repacking bearings. can't remember where i ordered them from. got them from Viking Imports in NC first time around, but they were much more expensive. found the last ones i bought on the internet. i'd recommend doing that while you're down there.

 

you'll need inner and outer wheel seals for each hub as well. i'd recommend doing the ball joints while you're down there.

 

when i did a front end rebuild like you're doing i rebuilt the hubs, new bearings, new seals, new ball joints, brake caliper rebuild kits, suspension bushings, rotors, brake pads. but i also want to consider my 215,000 mile subaru very reliable.

[ShawnW]

You can buy a wheel bearing packer tool that will work good, otherwise get a couple of rubber gloves, a huge glob of grease and your palms. Squeeze as much grease as you can into the bearings, then wipe the groove between the races with the tip of your finger until its just barely showing the balls again. The tip on replacing the inner and outer seals is a good one, I had luck (for once) getting the seals at Autozone. Same on the bearings.

[Craven]

Packing bearings- Take a good size wad of the grease you have and put in the palm of your hand. With your other hand hold the bearing on edge and tap with some force in the grease in your hand, turning as you go. It will take more grease to load the bearing than you would think. Keep this going until the bearing won't take anymore grease. Or, There is a tool you can buy that incloses the bearing and use a grease gun. But you would miss all the fun of getting your hands all greased up. Install the bearings and your good to go.

Craven

[Indrid cold]

Also: how much grease should be packed in the area... between spacer etc... load it up, a bit or just to cover the bearings is good?

 

When I did mine I kind of added extra figuring the extra grease isn't going to hurt anything so a little is fine, more has got to be better right?

[Ross]

more has got to be better right?

 

No. Any more than 1/3 full and you risk overheating the bearings.

[pyromanic]

No. Any more than 1/3 full and you risk overheating the bearings.

 

Well ya learn something everyday. I didn't know that. I'd be interested to know the mechanics or thermodynamics or whatever of how that works.

 

I mean just how does overpacking a bearing area cause risk of overheating?

 

I'm not disputing this, just really like to understand things.

 

Pyro

[Craven]

Well ya learn something everyday. I didn't know that. I'd be interested to know the mechanics or thermodynamics or whatever of how that works.

 

I mean just how does overpacking a bearing area cause risk of overheating?

 

I'm not disputing this, just really like to understand things.

 

Pyro

Not sure about over heating, but the grease will expand when it warms up and if you pack the hub full there is no room for it to expand and it will blow out your seals.

[BCSubguy]

This newsletter should say it all.

http://www.lubetrak.com/newsletter/Feb27HTML.html

 

have fun!

J.W.

[Craven]

This newsletter should say it all.

http://www.lubetrak.com/newsletter/Feb27HTML.html

 

have fun!

J.W.

nice article

[pyromanic]

Not sure about over heating, but the grease will expand when it warms up and if you pack the hub full there is no room for it to expand and it will blow out your seals.[/QUOT

 

Oh, I should have thought of that. That makes sense. Then of course youd start slinging grease out and run em dry and fry.

 

Ouch.

[pyromanic]

This newsletter should say it all.

http://www.lubetrak.com/newsletter/Feb27HTML.html

 

have fun!

J.W.

 

Thanks for the great link! Informative

 

Pyro

[soobscript]

Thanks for all the replies! Will I need to remove the driveshaft to do the bearing job?

i'd recommend doing the ball joints while you're down there.

Are these a replacement or just re-lube?

[Ross]

Yep, you need to remove the dirve axle to do the bearings. You can take teh whole steering knuckle/axle assembly out whole.

 

The ball joints just get replaced, they are fairly cheap.

[soobscript]

Yep, you need to remove the dirve axle to do the bearings. You can take teh whole steering knuckle/axle assembly out whole.

So the axle disconnects from the spline or whatever coming out of tranny? The CV and DOJ don't get messed with?

Or would it be good to re-pack the joints since I just hit 196k miles?

[Ross]

Yes, you knock out the roll pin holding the inner cv to the gearbox output shafts. then the axle pulls off the box.

If your cv boots look crappy, it would be best to replace them and re pack the cvs while your at it.

Likewise, if your cvs are knocking, now would be a good time to replace them.

[pyromanic]

Speaking of hot bearing,(and hubs) what temperature should a hub with everything running ok be?

 

Mine are running hotter than I would anticipate. Too hot to hold your fingers on long, but not so hot so as to smoke or fry spit.

 

Whats normal?

 

Thanks

[Ross]

They get quite hot if youve been doing a bit of braking, thats normal.

If they get too hot to touch when you haven't been doing any serious braking, id say somethings wrong.

[Indrid cold]

Interesting article on bearings... good info

[soobscript]

Planning to get work done Saturday. Bearings will be taken care of.

I might have joint issues as well (clunk on right turns with load). No tears or grease trails.

Will they be easy to check with the axles removed? Should I open boots and re-grease-ify even if they seem okay? What's best repair route if I find a bad CV?

 

--Ed

[Snowman]

It should be pretty obvious if you've got CVJ/DOJ problems. If the boots are torn, or if there is any roughness when you move the joints around, it's time for new ones (get a new or reman axle). I have repacked CV's with grease, but it is not fun, and usually the grease is not what causes them to fail. 9 times out of 10, failure is cause by torn boots allowing contamination in.

[soobscript]

It should be pretty obvious if you've got CVJ/DOJ problems. If the boots are torn, or if there is any roughness when you move the joints around, it's time for new ones (get a new or reman axle). I have repacked CV's with grease, but it is not fun, and usually the grease is not what causes them to fail. 9 times out of 10, failure is cause by torn boots allowing contamination in.

 

I didn't get to bearings yet.

I did find that my drivers side (the problematic one) caste nut was loose.

I KNOW the bearing is bad. Not sure if my issues are all bearing or if any are joint-related.

All boots are good.

While the axle is out, should I bother with taking boots off, rebuilding, and replacing? Or just assume they are good and take care of the bearings, and see what happens. (Then replace axles if bad?)

My time is limited, both on unnecessarily rebuilding joints and/or removing the axle again to do it.

[KStretch55]

Great article, thanks! Hey, has anyone ever tried adding grease with a needle poked through the seal? I wouldn't think the needle hole would leak too much. Actually, last time I replaced a set of rear bearings thats kind of how I greased them. But, it was before installing them, so I didn't have to go through the seal. I had them assembled on the shaft with the spacer between them and carefully slid the needle between two rollers and pumped them full of grease. Of course, now I'm wondering after reading that article, if they have too much.

[MilesFox]

ed, you will have to remove the axle from the knuckle to service the bearings. if the gboots are ok then you wont have to bother withthe axle. depending on your budget you can get a NEW axle from advance autoi for 60 bucks after a 45 dollar core, its lifetime so if you break one you can exchange it. if you are worried about having to maybe service the axle you can get a new one now

 

if you do have torn boots you stand a good chance of cleaning out the old grease and re booting it, as the axle should have some life to it. if you get a new boot it will come with clamps and a pack of grease, and sometimes a roll pin and snap rings. the inner side of the axle comes apart easy, but the uter end you need a drift and a vise to get it apart

 

make sure to use moly ep grease inside the axle should you go that route

 

keep in mind when popping the ball joint you may rip the boots with a pickle fork, this is ok if you intend to replace the ball joint. otherwise you can remove the pinch bolt and leave the ball joint on the lower control arm, and separate the top side from the knuckle. a long bar placed across the lower control arm under the axle and wedged into the radius rod mount is useful for pushing the lower control arm away enough to pop the ball joint out

 

once the ball joint is separated then you can pul the axle away from the tranny (after the pin is removed) once the axle is off the tranny you can use a hammer to drive the axle out

 

be careful not to damage the htreads. i take the axle nut off, then tread it on backward so its flush with the axle thread, use a block of wood and a hammer to get it going, take the nut off. i like to butt the round end of a ball peene hammer to drive it out the rest of the way with e 3 lb hammer

 

to drive the axle back in, if the knuckle is on the car you can put the tranny end of the axle on once the threaded side is fed into the knuckle, you can tap around the knuckel to start the axle thru, and use the nut to draw it the rest of the way.

 

if the knuckle is off the car you can use a hammer and a block of wood to drive it in from the tranny end. sometimes a new axle will just slide in with little effort

 

good luck once you figure it out the first time any time after should be a breeze.