How to clean wheel bearings??

WILDEBILL wrote:

westend wrote:

K6DKO wrote:
Do I need to soak the bearings in kerosene to get them clean? If so how long?

About 10 seconds if you plan to get your hands on them.

??? What are you talking about???
Bill

What are you not understanding?
I've never seen or heard of anyone merely soaking a bearing in any solvent until they're clean. If the term "soaking" is the same as a parts washing machine, then, yes, there will be some time duration involved. I would assume since the OP is asking how to clean bearings he doesn't own a machine.

If he does decide to clean them and if he uses kerosene, the best method is to use a parts brush and roll the bearings by hand to remove grease. I would usually follow up with a rag.

As someone else posted, I don't clean them anymore except to remove any excess old grease for inspection. I use a bearing packer and push in new grease until the old is pressed out. MO is that these hub bearings are not close enough in tolerance and have sufficient hardness that heroic cleaning methods aren't necessary. Should say that I don't operate my running stock in terribly harsh environments. If I was rock climbing or did a lot of desert travel, I might clean up everything as I don't like dirt in moving parts.

BTW, axle grease is one of the nicest skin softeners made. :B