Yeah, I know everyone knows how to do this. So, why am I going to write this if everyone knows? Because time and time again I see bearings with little to no grease or they have been over tightened and are burnt up. If you are starting with a good bearing and you do it right the bearing will probably out live you. So in this article I will tell you how I do it and maybe you can read it and see if you’re doing it the same way.
First, if you’re just checking your bearings clean them up and look for pitting on the race and on the roller or ball itself. Next, look at the color of the metal. Is it nice and shiny or is it blue-ish in color? If it’s starting to turn blue then it’s gotten hot and you should replace it. I prefer a name brand bearing over the china bearings myself. If you are driving in new races it’s a good idea to find a socket that is just under the OD of the race. If you don’t have one use a brass drift and drive it in evenly. Try not to cock the bearing in it’s seating surface. Pay attention to which way the cone of the race goes. The large ID faces out. On the rear roller bearing it’s a straight race so there is no cone. The ball bearing in the rear it a one piece so it has to be driven in as a unit.
Time to pack the bearing. They make tools for this that work really nice and you don’t get your hands as greasy. If you are going to hand pack I don’t care how you do it just make sure you can see grease squeezing out of the cage part of the bearing. You want to make sure you get grease in every little gap you can. Greasing just the outside does you no good. There are all kinds of great greases out there. Just make sure its wheel bearing grease and not assembly grease like white grease. Now here is the kicker. Please fill the cavity between the bearing races. This is a big deal. I see time and time again where that area is dry. Think about this. You’re going down the road the grease gets warm and starts to flow. The warm grease is going to fly out of the bearing and into the cavity between the bearing races. If that is backed with grease it will flow back into the bearing where it’s needed.
On front drums or rotors what I do is pack my bearing and set them on a clean rag. Then I take the drum and get a finger full of grease and start backing the cavity between the races, leaving just enough room for the spindle. Then, while my fingers are still greasy, I smear a thick layer on the inner race. Reach over and grab the inner bearing and lay it into the race. Then wipe most of the grease off my hands and drive in the inner seal. Turn it over and smear some grease on the outer race. Now slide it on the spindle. Put the outer bearing on. Then the thrust washer and hand tighten the nut with my hand. On rear wheel bearing IRS cars, I have my packed inner bearing (ball bearing) and I drive it into place. Then put the giant clip in if your car takes one. Then do the inner seal. Now from the other side, start packing that cavity with grease again just leaving enough room for the stub axle. When you think you’re done, push the stub axle through the inner bearing then slide the large bearing spacer over the axle. Do you see any more room for grease? If you do, stuff more in there! Then install your outer packed bearing and the rest of the parts. I have seen guys drill a hole and install a grease sert into that cavity so they could use a grease gun. Well I thought that was a great idea until I blew grease through the seal onto my brakes. Not good.
On to tightening the nut on the front bearings; You need to tighten the nut snug not gorilla tight. Then back it off until it’s free. Then just turn the nut so it just touches the thrust washer. No tighter. If you do you will put load on the bearing and it’s going to get hot and burn up. Been there done that.
Now on the rear you want to tighten the axle nut to at least 217ftlbs. I tighten to 250. Here is the ever so important part- Drive the car around the block and retighten the nut. If it moved at all tighten it again and drive around the block again. Keep doing that until it stops moving when you tighten it. Ok so it’s tight and the cotter pin holes doesn’t line up. Well tighten it to the next hole. Don’t ever back up the nut to line up the hole. If you don’t do this trick you will more than likely be buying another brake drum soon as you will strip out the splines in the drum.
I am sure most of you already know all this but for those who didn’t this will help keep some money in your wallet and the wife from yelling at you when you’re broke down alongside the road.