- Location
- Southern Maryland
Something I have wondered about for a while is if it was feasible to regrease a wheel hub bearing unit. Last week I picked up a couple of D30 shafts and they still had the bearings on them. Rusty ugly and they made some scratching noises too, but figured I would look at the feasibility of regreasing before sending them to the dump.
The orange seal on the backside pops off with a pick/awl. Don't tear it. Underneath that is a second seal that also pops out. The inner seal will bend when it's pulled out, but you can tap on it with a hammer to flatten it back out.
Underneath that is a ball-bearing race. I assume there is another race deep inside but I couldn't see it.
I used a bunch of brake cleaner to clear out the old grease and dirt. The bearing will turn much faster and looser once its cleaned, but will also make more noise. After the brake cleaner dried, I put a layer of grease on the bearings and used a pencil to force it down into the race. Then I did another layer, and another, until the grease stopped going down.
Once the grease was loaded, the two seals "snapped" back into place with just finger pressure. There was some kind of groove to hold them, probably something to make assembly faster. After they are back together, the grease makes the bearings spin slowly, but they are smooth and quiet again.
Okay so questions: Has anybody else done this and does it work? I am sitting here with about 30 min and $10 in fluids invested and if this works it will be great, but this doesn't seem like a popular thing to do (or my google-fu is weak), which makes me wonder if it won't work at all
The orange seal on the backside pops off with a pick/awl. Don't tear it. Underneath that is a second seal that also pops out. The inner seal will bend when it's pulled out, but you can tap on it with a hammer to flatten it back out.
Underneath that is a ball-bearing race. I assume there is another race deep inside but I couldn't see it.
I used a bunch of brake cleaner to clear out the old grease and dirt. The bearing will turn much faster and looser once its cleaned, but will also make more noise. After the brake cleaner dried, I put a layer of grease on the bearings and used a pencil to force it down into the race. Then I did another layer, and another, until the grease stopped going down.
Once the grease was loaded, the two seals "snapped" back into place with just finger pressure. There was some kind of groove to hold them, probably something to make assembly faster. After they are back together, the grease makes the bearings spin slowly, but they are smooth and quiet again.
Okay so questions: Has anybody else done this and does it work? I am sitting here with about 30 min and $10 in fluids invested and if this works it will be great, but this doesn't seem like a popular thing to do (or my google-fu is weak), which makes me wonder if it won't work at all