<pfjw (AT) aol (DOT) com> wrote

This is begining to sound like the old tale about the fellow who had a broom
that belonged to his grandfather, which had had 5 new heads and 6 new
handles!

Alan

Alan Holmes wrote:

Hey!!

The innards & sheet-metal are all-original >;-b Even works! Each
year that it passes Pennsylvania's safety & emissions inspections (and
we have a tough mechanic for that), I am pleased.

Now, some of my vintage electronics are very much like that broom...
about the only original parts inside are the heat-sinks, transformer(s)
and mechanical pieces... and anyone who has ever kept Dynaco stuff will
understand that situation.

Use it up,
Wear it out,
Make do,
Or do without.

Peter Wieck
Wyncote, PA

"Daytona" <me (AT) privacy (DOT) net> wrote

Wheel bearing shuold last at least 70k miles. Virtually all modern car wheel
bearings are sealed for life. Ive just not long changed mine on my Proton
Persona at 114k miles.

McK.

me wrote:
that would be about 18 years ago. The bearings have about 250,000 miles
on them. My VWs have had font bearing last over 200,000 miles. Some of
the VWs I have worked on have had over 200,000 miles on the rear
bearings. Grease may get squeezed out a bit but if properly packed the
grease oozes or wicks to where it needs to be. My Toyota specifically
lists how much grease you are to pack in to the hub to allow for proper
wicking.

On Tue, 19 Dec 2006 15:37:47 +0000, Daytona <me (AT) privacy (DOT) net> wrote:

Thanks for the replies !

Daytona

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Daytona <me (AT) privacy (DOT) net> saying
something like:

Bollocks. Overpacking with grease is as bad as under-greasing.

And you'd be right. The optimum amount of grease is 'just enough'. The
excess grease is squeezed out and remains on the periphery of the
bearings until bearing temps rise and cause it to melt and flow into the
bearings.

On an 89 Golf, depends on the habitual use and roads it's on, but 11,000
miles is far too little for decent bearings.
--

Dave
SE6a

"Grimly Curmudgeon" <grimly4REMOVE (AT) REMOVEgmail (DOT) com> wrote

How?
I ask because I don't know, and I was under the impression my filling hands
with grease and stuffing the races, grease into every available gap etc. was
the way to do it. After that putting grease into the hub, a good smearing.


Just enough? like so the race is coated all over but not 'heavy'?


11,000 is atrocious isn't it?

Ten times that I would expect from any car. But that could be wishful
thinking and lack of experience.


--
Billy H

Billy H wrote:

[...]

If you fill the bearing and its sealed housing completely, where is the
grease that has to be moved to allow rotation going to go?

An over-packed bearing will fail in one of two ways. Either pressure caused
by the churning effect will cause the seal system to fail resulting
ultimately in severe *under* lubrication, or the churning will cause
temperature degradation of the grease.

I've seen both happen many times in industrial situations.

The general rule of thumb is to fill the bearing, but only pack the sealed
area of the housing to 50% full.

Perhaps it was over-packed :-)

I've certainly ran cars for 100K and never replaced a wheel bearing. OTOH
I've had one go noisy at half that milage. A failure at 11K means something
was wrong for sure!

Chris


--
Remove prejudice to reply.

Grimly Curmudgeon wrote:
I seem to recall that one workshop manual I read advised putting grease
into the space between the inner and outer bearing on a front hub, and
that was about it. I certainly feel that it is wrong to fill the entire
bearing housing with grease.

If you overfill these assemblies I suspect you may do more harm than
good, causing excess grease to be forced out past the seals, and perhaps
even interfering with brake components.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "Billy H" <changedh (AT) sforxmas (DOT) com>
saying something like:

It's counter-productive; like so much else, the 'just enough' quantity
can be gauged by experience or simply reading a manual or two.

Too much and it can blow seals out, leading to total loss of lube and
severely contaminating the neighbouring components into the bargain. If
those components happen to be safety-critical, like brakes, you can see
the problem.

Another effect that might crop up would be the balls skidding on the
races, rather than turning. If there's too much lube there's not enough
friction there to keep rotation happening. Once a ball starts skidding,
that bearing's pretty much looking at the end coming soon.

Pretty much; and leave space for the grease to go into.

As an illustration - most car makers use a miser's pinch of grease and
generally the OE bearings last for ages. I think they use too little,
but there you go.


The shortest-lived wheel bearings I've routinely dealt with are on
m/bikes, where it's fairly common to replace them at around 50 or 60K
due to the loading and harsh conditions. Even so, a good make of sealed
bearings (Toyo) can double that.
--

Dave
SE6a