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DIY - Repack Trailer Wheel Bearings
- Thread starter Rando
- Start date
NancysToy
Motorbike Professor
Sorry, no video. Hard to shoot it when your hands are greasy. :roflblack:
Seriously, there might be a video on YouTube of packing wheel bearings. The procedure is fairly simple. Clean the bearing well, and dry it thoroughly. Compressed air works best for that. The waterproof, synthetic wheel bearing greases meant for boat trailers work well, but standard wheel bearing grease is fine if you check often and don't submerge your trailer wheels. Put a large glob of wheel bearing grease into the palm of your hand. Hold the bearing in your other hand and work it into the glob of grease, pushing the grease into the bearing as you go, section by section. You want to pack it so that it fills all the voids and completely fills the bearing. When you put the bearings back in the hubs, coat the races well with grease, before you insert the bearings. Some extra is good insurance, but don't fill the hubs completely. That is fine to keep water out of slow speed boat trailer bearings, but highway usage demands some space for expansion, lest you overheat the bearing or blow the seals. The extra grease does no good, never reaching the bearings anyway. Remember, it is the bearings you need to pack, not the hubs. One other thing, when you tighten the spindle nuts the excess grease will take up some space at first. Turn the wheel as you tighten, and snug and loosen the nut a few times as you turn, to work out the excess grease. Then torque the nut as specified, and insert a new cotter key before you replace the hub cap.
BTW, there are bearing packer tools on the market that let you avoid the grease-in-palm routine, but they are more trouble than they are worth, IMO, and do not save any grease.
Sloppy work...but very satisfying. Like playing in the mud when you were a kid.
Seriously, there might be a video on YouTube of packing wheel bearings. The procedure is fairly simple. Clean the bearing well, and dry it thoroughly. Compressed air works best for that. The waterproof, synthetic wheel bearing greases meant for boat trailers work well, but standard wheel bearing grease is fine if you check often and don't submerge your trailer wheels. Put a large glob of wheel bearing grease into the palm of your hand. Hold the bearing in your other hand and work it into the glob of grease, pushing the grease into the bearing as you go, section by section. You want to pack it so that it fills all the voids and completely fills the bearing. When you put the bearings back in the hubs, coat the races well with grease, before you insert the bearings. Some extra is good insurance, but don't fill the hubs completely. That is fine to keep water out of slow speed boat trailer bearings, but highway usage demands some space for expansion, lest you overheat the bearing or blow the seals. The extra grease does no good, never reaching the bearings anyway. Remember, it is the bearings you need to pack, not the hubs. One other thing, when you tighten the spindle nuts the excess grease will take up some space at first. Turn the wheel as you tighten, and snug and loosen the nut a few times as you turn, to work out the excess grease. Then torque the nut as specified, and insert a new cotter key before you replace the hub cap.
BTW, there are bearing packer tools on the market that let you avoid the grease-in-palm routine, but they are more trouble than they are worth, IMO, and do not save any grease.
Sloppy work...but very satisfying. Like playing in the mud when you were a kid.
NancysToy
Motorbike Professor
And here I thought I was the only one who did this job the old fashion way.
My dad taught me how to do that when I was about 12, and I have never found anything better.Similar threads
