Bearing repack question

[Deano_1]

Hey guys,

I have a double axle 26 foot camper.


Today I removed cleaned and repacked the bearings (on side of my camper). I didn't put a ton of grease in and around everything, but I was careful make sure both bearings were properly coated. My question, once I put everything back together, how much grease should I pump into the fitting? I put quite a few pumps in, but didn't notice any grease coming out.

Thanks!

Deano

[Community Alumni]

Yeah I think the OP is missing the point. If you hand packed the bearings then there's no need to use the Zerk. The Zerk just fills the void in the hub in an attempt to force new grease into the bearings. You don't need to do this since you already forced new grease into the bearings by hand. The bearings got all of the grease that they needed when you packed it by hand. If you packed the bearing, grease oozed out of the rollers on the other side, and added some grease to the outside then you're good to go.

[theoldwizard1]

To properly re-pack a bearing you have to start by removing all of the old grease. You need a small container of solvent and a stiff brush to remove all of the old grease.

Video on how to hand pack a wheel bearing

There are a couple of different style of bearing packing tools. One use had pressure, the other uses a grease gun (it has a zerk fitting on the top). If you are using the latter, you should have a separate grease gun loaded with your favorite wheel bearing grease (not chassis grease; it is too stiff).

[ScottG]

I find bearing packers to be way too messy. I have one but only used it once before returning to hand packing.
I put on a pair of disposable gloves and use the palm method of packing. Doing it this way I know for sure there is grease thorughout the bearing because I can see it flow through the cage.
OP, if you just smeared grease around the bearings then you need to do it all over again.
I'm sure there are some good video's on Youtube of how to do the job.

[opnspaces]

Deano_1 wrote:

I didn't put a ton of grease in and around everything, but I was careful make sure both bearings were properly coated.
Deano

Hi Deano,
I think you might be missing what the forum is trying to tell you. The important thing you need to be concerned with is how you packed the grease by hand into the bearings, not by the zerk fitting in the axle. The zerk fitting in my opinion is nothing more than marketing hype and should not be considered for bearing maintenance.

If you properly packed your bearings by hand and forced new grease around the bearing rollers to the center. That is, if they are completely coated with grease inside and out, not just grease smeared around the outside. Then you bearings are properly packed and there is nothing more to do. Adding more grease to the center of the hubs doesn't really do anything except lighten you wallet.

Also of importance is you can tighten the axle nut with a tool to seat the bearings. But in the end you have to loosen the nut until you can turn it freely by hand and then tighten it only finger tight. Do not spin the hub while you are doing these steps. If the cotter pin will not line up with the hole in the axle, loosen (do not tighten) the nut slightly until it does.

[time2roll]

I have that bearing packer filled with Mobile 1. Works very well.

[Deano_1]

I will definitely look into one of those those when I do the other side??

[drsteve]

Deano_1 wrote:
I'm not sure they're "fully jamed". Like I said I pumped maybe 10 or 15 pumps in. There was certainly a lot more grease when I took everything apart than when I put it back together. My plan is tomorrow I'm going to take a 10-15 mile drive and get everything heated up, get it back home and pull the wheel and hub off and check everything out. Probably overkill, but I'd rather do that they drive 250 miles next Friday and have a problem.

Thanks for all of the suggestion.


Deano

A bearing packer will eliminate any uncertainty that the old grease is out and the new is in. Plus it's way less messy.

Clicky

[Deano_1]

I'm not sure they're "fully jamed". Like I said I pumped maybe 10 or 15 pumps in. There was certainly a lot more grease when I took everything apart than when I put it back together. My plan is tomorrow I'm going to take a 10-15 mile drive and get everything heated up, get it back home and pull the wheel and hub off and check everything out. Probably overkill, but I'd rather do that they drive 250 miles next Friday and have a problem.

Thanks for all of the suggestion.


Deano

[phillyg]

Yep, no need to add more grease now as long as the bearings and races are thoroughly jammed with grease.

[Mont_G_J]

deleted

[drsteve]

Deano_1 wrote:
Not sure what you mean by had packed correctly. I did was to pack/grease the two bearings. Beyond packing the bearings, what do you mean?

Is there a potential problem if I adds more into the fitting?

Thanks

The problem is many people pump too much grease in too fast, and push grease past the hub seal into the brake drum. If you repacked them by hand, there's no reason to use the ez lube system. You're good to go.

[MFL]

Since you had the bearings out, you should have worked grease into them, filling the bearing. Then adding a slight amount to spindle, and seal lips before reassembly.

To answer your question, it may take 50 + or- slow full pumps, before you see grease coming out of front bearing, using the EZ-lube system.

Jerry

[time2roll]

Deano_1 wrote:
Not sure what you mean by had packed correctly. I did was to pack/grease the two bearings. Beyond packing the bearings, what do you mean?

Is there a potential problem if I adds more into the fitting?

Thanks

If you just swished some grease on that could be insufficient. If you forced grease into the rollers so it oozed out in all directions then you are good and done.

The issue with the zerk is the grease is forced against the rear seal to make it flow through the bearings from back to front. If grease gets past the seal it goes on the brake shoes. If you must use the zerk you must have a double lip seal and rotate the wheel while you SLOWLY hand pump the grease. Again this is not needed if the bearing is properly packed.

[Deano_1]

Not sure what you mean by had packed correctly. I did was to pack/grease the two bearings. Beyond packing the bearings, what do you mean?

Is there a potential problem if I adds more into the fitting?

Thanks