Can I repack my own wheel bearings?
I greased the front-wheel bearings of my International Scout a few times 50 years ago, but I have not looked at a wheel bearing since. Every year, I pay to have my fifth-wheel bearings repacked, but I...
Forum Discussion
I've got a bearing packer and use it sometimes. I've got skinny fingers and can hook one inside a bearing and pack the grease from my left palm. Maybe 3 minutes per bearing. Packing a bearing by hand is one of those things you have to do at least once.
I just got the HF bearing and seal tool. It's just a 6inch round bar with an assortment of plates that screw on the end and will fit over the thin side of a race and inside the hub. Just hit or tap on the end of the round bar until you hear and feel the race seat. I used a brass bar or drift pin or punch previously. I start my seal by laying the square shank of a chisel or similar tool across the seal. Get it started as flat as possible and tap it in. The square shank will insure the seal is mounted perpendicular to the shaft and is level with the back side of the hub.
Most of my roller bearing work was on process pumps and general purpose turbines. That was using a conductive bearing heater with a digital thermometer and mounted radial and thrust bearings on a pump shaft using thick high temp gloves. Some tapered roller bearings in larger reduction gearboxes. I usually used a Dake arbor press to insert seals. Larger equipment used tilting pad plain bearings. 99% of our process rotating equipment ran with no oil reservoir or grease. We used oil mist off a air/oil generator to a header and tubing drops to the bearing housings.
I just got the HF bearing and seal tool. It's just a 6inch round bar with an assortment of plates that screw on the end and will fit over the thin side of a race and inside the hub. Just hit or tap on the end of the round bar until you hear and feel the race seat. I used a brass bar or drift pin or punch previously. I start my seal by laying the square shank of a chisel or similar tool across the seal. Get it started as flat as possible and tap it in. The square shank will insure the seal is mounted perpendicular to the shaft and is level with the back side of the hub.
Most of my roller bearing work was on process pumps and general purpose turbines. That was using a conductive bearing heater with a digital thermometer and mounted radial and thrust bearings on a pump shaft using thick high temp gloves. Some tapered roller bearings in larger reduction gearboxes. I usually used a Dake arbor press to insert seals. Larger equipment used tilting pad plain bearings. 99% of our process rotating equipment ran with no oil reservoir or grease. We used oil mist off a air/oil generator to a header and tubing drops to the bearing housings.
