Wheel Bearing Grease

[mdedgett]

What grease is recommended for using the zirks on the wheel bearings? I was once told that the grease used has to be compatible with the grease packed into the bearings; it is possible to decrease the lubricity by using incompatible grease, is this a legitimate concern?

 

[PUG]

I use Mobile 1 synthetic red grease. Should be compatible but if worried just pull and repack in this. Best grease around.

 

[bd2dabone]

Been using this on my Polaris RZR which gets muddy and underwater and on the wheelbearings of the utility trailer

http://www.greengrease.net/

 

[57chevyconvt]

You are correct in your understanding about not mixing types of grease. Synthetic grease is not compatible with the normal moly based NLG #2 greases. I have been using the Lippert recommended grease that is compatible with the grease that came in the hubs from Lippert. I am currently in the process of repacking my wheel bearing with Red Line 80402 Synthetic grease. I had to purchase the Red Line grease from Amazon. The Mobil One synthetic grease is an alternate to the Red Line grease.
I would highly recommend that you remove the hub and repack the bearing and not use the grease fitting method of greasing the bearing. I am sure that other folks will concure with this recommendation. If you are experienced at repacking wheel bearing that is great, if not all you have to do is say so and you will find all help need to understand and accomplish this job by the wealth of knowledge that resides on this forum.

 

[Bob&Patty]

The only glitch to greasing using the jerk fittings is....you have to spin the wheels while doing it. Which means you have to jack up the wheels anyway. Might as well remove the hubs and repack them.

 

[57chevyconvt]

Lippert has a procedure for lubricating the SuperLube Hub that as Bob has noted will require rotating the wheel while applying grease to the fitting. My comment here is to make it known that the new grease will travel through the spindle and exit between the inner bearing and grease seal. Therefore, the hub will have to be completely filled with grease before any grease will be pumped through the outer bearing. I personally don't like the idea of the hub being completely filled with grease. When the hub heats up and the grease expands, where does it go? Normally out the grease seal, just where it is not wanted. If I were to employ this method of greasing, I would certainly use the RED LINE CV-2 grease for its flow-ability to go through the inner bearing. My thoughts.

 

[aatauses]

Hey 57chevyconvt,
Do you have a step by step instruction on repacking bearing? I was also wondering about the seals, do they need to be replaced when you do the bearings. I usually have them done by a dealer, but have some time now. also after repacking do you need to readjust brakes? Appreciate any instructions you may have
al

 

[westxsrt10]

Lippert has a procedure for lubricating the SuperLube Hub that as Bob has noted will require rotating the wheel while applying grease to the fitting. My comment here is to make it known that the new grease will travel through the spindle and exit between the inner bearing and grease seal. Therefore, the hub will have to be completely filled with grease before any grease will be pumped through the outer bearing. I personally don't like the idea of the hub being completely filled with grease. When the hub heats up and the grease expands, where does it go? Normally out the grease seal, just where it is not wanted. If I were to employ this method of greasing, I would certainly use the RED LINE CV-2 grease for its flow-ability to go through the inner bearing. My thoughts.

This is good advise^^^^I grease the rear bearing using the 'proper steps' via the zerk fitting (as stated above).The front bearing should be greased by hand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OPEOY21AhY

 

[TeJay]

I also concur with 57chevy. I have never been a proponent of packing the hub full of grease. Remember the job of the brakes is to turn energy of motion into heat energy. Any heat generated has to be dissipated as soon as possible. Any thing that impedes that process is counterproductive. A hub full of grease does just that. The use of a grease fitting to add or replace the bearing grease is designed to make the process of packing bearings easier. Some on these forums have used this method with good success so I won't suggest that you not use it. These are my personal thoughts on it. First off, vehicles that currently have front wheel bearings do no require annual or 12-K mile interval service. Usually the bearings are serviced when the front brakes are done, 35-K to 45-K miles. Boat trailers are usually done annually, why? The trailers are backed into the water to launch the boat. Then they sit, and sit, and sit. To get the water out over the years the industry has pushed to do the bearings annually. This is what I believe the TT industry has also done. Years and years ago somebody took a trailer of some sorts and built a travel trailer on it. They packed the bearings annually because that's what they did when it was a boat trailer. Here's what I taught and what I do. I always use synthetic grease. Mobil 1, Amzoil or the stuff 57chevy mentioned. Synthetics are by far the best. I will also put 1/8"th to1/4" ich layer of grease inside the hub to prevent moisture buildup but don't pack it full. Remember that the grease does not flow like oil. It stays on and around the roller bearing because of its what I call it's "sticktuitiveness" qualities. Where ever you put it is where it will stay. As mentioned while you are in there packing bearings it is advisable to also inspect and adjust your brakes. Changing the seals is also advisable. Find a good quality double lip seal if possible. You don't want grease getting out ruining your break shoes. Search my posts and I think I put a procedure somewhere on these forums. If I didn't PM me and I'll send you one. We are getting ready to head to FL this Saturday and I don't have a great deal of time. As far as how often. I will repack mine every two seasons. That way I can check the magnets, bearings, drums, and shoes.
TeJay

 

[57chevyconvt]

If TeJay is unable (leaving soon on a trip to Florida) to provide you with a procedure, for repacking the wheel bearings, go to Lippert's website and down load in .pdf format several of their procedures for repacking the wheel bearing and performing a repair/replace (R&R) on the brakes. I always loosen the brake adjustment about five clicks so that the hub/brake drum will be easier to remove. As TeJay noted.
Always change the grease seal when performing this task. In order to remove the inboard (large bearing) this seal must be removed and when this is done, the seal is distroyed. I have used the cheap China seals that most of the trailer stores use but I much prefer a higher quality double lip seal (about double the price) such as a DICHTOMATIK - TMC part number 22333TC-BX. This seal is made in Taiwan and the grade of rubber is much better than the cheaper seals made in China. Hopefully someone on the forum will post the part numbers for a CRC or National double lip seal.

BTW - as long as I can still do the work myself, I will repack my own bearings. Unfortunately, many of the folks that do this work at a RV shop or Trailer Repair Shop are not sufficient trained as to the details of cleaning, handling, and repacking bearing. If and when I reach the point where I cannot do the work myself and still have the trailer, I will have the shop mechanic tell me in his words how he will preform this task. Since the suspension system is one of the most critical systems of our trailer, I don't what to leave it up to CHANCE.

Brake adjustment is always required after replacing the hub/brake drum. Adjust the brakes by turning the star wheel adjuster until the brake are fully expanded against the drum and then backing off the star wheel adjuster five (5) clicks.

 

[TeJay]

Ditto what 57chevy said. Allow me to add a few items. I watched a few of the u-tube videos regarding how to repack wheel bearings. There is some good info but not much. One guy said that he always washes the parts off in gasoline. Two things about that. One, use gasoline to wash parts??? How stupid can you get??? I will sometimes use paint thinner to wash off grease but it is not much different than charcoal lighter. In fact I use paint thinner to start my grill. Have for years. While it is flammable it's not nearly as bad a gasoline. Secondly, I never wash bearing with any kind of solvent. Why?? Unless you use an evaporating thinner or really blow those rollers clean and dry there's always a chance of leaving some of the solvent behind. Guess what it will do to the new grease? Yep it will begin to dissolve the new grease you just packed into the bearing. I have always only wiped the bearing clean. Here's something else to watch for. When you first take the bearings out of the hub and wipe the grease off look at the grease in your rag. If you see little sparkles in the grease you have just diagnosed defective wheel bearings and they must be replaced. The sparkles come from the fact that the hardened rollers have been overheated, lost their temper or hardness. The metal has fatigued and is falling apart. Inspecting with a magnifying glass will reveal pits in the rollers and race. That's also why I never wash bearings. If you took them off and dumped them into some solvent you might miss defective bearings. Even the slightest amount of sparkle is a sure sign of pending bearing failure.
Hope this adds some to your info. You should have just about enough to do the job. 1. Use good grease. 2. Use double lip seals. 3. Correctly pack bearings. One guy on u-tube got that right. Hand pack them. 4. Put some grease on the axle. 5. Put 1/4" layer of grease into hub. 6. Using a socket tighten hub nut about 1/4 to 1/2 half past snug. This assures that everything is seated. 7. Back off and hand tighten nut. Rock the wheel at 12 and 6 O'clock and tighten the nut until the movement just goes away. That will be about .002 to .004 thousands wiggle. 8. Now insert new cotter pin. If you have to, loosen the hub nut some to match up with the axle hole. 9. Adjust brakes to provide slight drag. It's always a good idea to spin each wheel and have someone apply the brakes. That will help to center them. then recheck your adjustment.
TeJay

 

[57chevyconvt]

TeJay, Since I was changing the type of grease to Red Line Synthetic CV-2 from a hydrocarbon/moly based grease, I want to remove all the old grease. Therefore I used compressed air to blow out all the old grease onto a white rag to facilitate inspection of the grease for metal particles. After removing as much grease as possilb with the compressed air, I then washed the bearing with Brake Clean, non-chlorinated solvent. When blowing grease out of a bearing, near allow the bearing to rotate, i.e., hold the inner race and cage as a unit to prevent any rotation. BTW, I did inspect the clean bearing just as you noted. All of the trailer suspensions supplied from Lippert use China made bearing and seals. I highly recommend using Japanese made bearing such as TOYO or NSK over the China bearings, quality of steel and dimensional tolerances are superior to the China bearings.
Jim

 

[porthole]

You always here from someone or read somewhere that you should never use compressed air to dry bearings or if you do, do not to spin bearings.
But does anyone know why?

(TeJay exempt from answering right now.............................)
Bearings:
Timken, Federal Mogul etc

http://www.timken.com/en-us/products/bearings/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.wheelbearingsinc.com/index.cfm
http://mibearings.com/

 

[57chevyconvt]

porthole, The reason for not spinning a bearing with compressed air is that it is easy to turn a bearing to very high rpms with no lubrication. Since the internal clearances are very small the rolling elements will tend to slide rather than roll under a no load condtion. Sliding surfaces can very easily damage the bearing components, especially if one of the rolling elements locks up and stops the bearing when it is turning at very high speeds. Hope this answers your question.
Jim

 

[MTPockets]

I was in the industrial bearing business for nearly 40 years and dealt extensively consulting with plant maintenance and plant engineering people regarding proper bearing handling, care, installation, and proper lubrication. I also taught many times, maintenance and engineering folks on these topics. Most of what is stated is true and acceptable, much is based on emotion. Proper wheel bearing maintenance depends on 'clean' grease and the proper amount of lubrication. Do the job with clean hands, clean rags, clean parts. "Always" replace the seals - it's cheap insurance; this is the primary location of contaminants entering the bearings. Installing a new seal must be done carefully so as to avoid any nicks in the sealing element. The manufacturers methods and lubricant recommendations are good ones. Synthetic greases are good, but not really an advantage when re-packing bearings annually as recommended by the manufacturers. Never mix synthetic with the Lithium based greases. If there are just the sightest sign of discoloration on the bearing raceway, or the slightest depressions, nicks, scratches, replace the entire bearing - both cone and cup (Bearing and outer race) Discoloration means heat from either contaminants, lack of lubrication or both. Indentations in the races mean contaminants as well. Follow the recommendations and use the proper methods and tools to install and you'll stay a happy camper.

 

[porthole]

The real reason for not spinning the bearings with compressed air is the the cage and rollers will exit the assembly at a very high rate of speed, with no warning.