I over-packed my wheel bearings

The Bently manual said 2 ounces of grease. By the time I was done, I used

12 ounces (almost the whole can) for both rear axles. So I have 6 ounces per side instead of 2. Yup, I packed them tight... no air space in them..

Am I going to have problems like overheated bearings or something? Whoops..

Reply to
David Gravereaux
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It makes for a lot of "churning" (what stock brokers do...) which may heat the grease and thin it. At the worst, I would expect possible seepage of grease past the seal(s).

Take it on a 10 mile cruise at hiway speed, then feel the bearing hub.

(Personally, I wouldn't lose a lot of sleep.)

Speedy Jim

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Reply to
Speedy Jim

Which is a bad thing. I had seepage past the seal and it coated my brake drum and shoes resulting in some uneven braking and the replacement of the saturated shoes.

--Dan E

Reply to
Braukuche

Ah. Good point! Thanks Dan. Now that I think about it, it should be easy enough to pull the drum (and hub) and scoop out grease without removing the stub axle.

Jim

Reply to
Speedy Jim

In general, you want to leave enough room in there that the bearings can push the grease aside as they run. The tiny amount that slowly flows back does all the lubricating, and the rest is the reserve that makss this job last for years and years.

You would be best off to just scoop out some of the excess from the brake shoe side. The rest will then be free to redistribute itself and be happy.

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----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

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Reply to
Jim Adney

Okay, good solution. Looks like I'll have to do it in steps over time. All the mass is behind the outer bearing that I'm not going to remove. I feel like a twit for packing them too tight.

The right side bearing set I'm not too happy with. It has some play in it. pushing up-down on the drum there's a minute amount of play (clunking). left-right there's no play. And the drum/hub combo (squareback type) doesn't seem concentric with the shoe contact not even.

I'll take the drum/hub to the local machine shop and check the runout. If it's concentric, then I guess my axle is bent...

This stinks..

Reply to
David Gravereaux

You're fine..I did the same when I did my rear axles, I filled the whole hub cavity...that was a couple years ago(didn't even replace the grease seal on the front carrier...) and no problems whatsoever. I seem to recall it taking quite a bit of grease to fill it up.

Same applies for the fronts, you pack the bearings but then you also fill the center of the brake drum with grease.

Chris

Reply to
Hal

If you end up needing any type 3 parts, I probably have them.

Make sure that the interface between the drum and hub is clean. Dirt or rust in there can hold things askew. The separate drum & hub is really quite nice and generally works quite well.

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----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

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Reply to
Jim Adney

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