Comments on: Pack Your Bearings Before You Pack Your Bags

By: melvin

melvin — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 15:35:16 +0000

“Yet another discussion was that by not cleaning the bearing first you could have problems with grease incompatibilities.”

This is something to be concerned with, mix the wrong kinds of grease bases and you get soap.

By: PutnamEco

PutnamEco — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:03:14 +0000

Re:
Easiest method?
==================================
Put some grease in a baggie, put your bearings in baggie, work grease into bearings.

————————————————————————————-

Usually by the time I get the bearing out and clean, I’m covered in enough grease that I don’t mind just diving in bare handed.

By: DocN

DocN — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 19:52:18 +0000

These packers almost never work properly, at least without cleaning the bearing first. And, as noted, cleaning the packer itself is it’s own issue.

Easiest method? Grab a box of disposable surgical gloves. Slap on a pair, dig right in to that tub o’ bearing goo, squish and knead it where it oughta go, and when you’re done, just pull off the gloves and toss.

Doc.

By: Benjamen Johnson

Benjamen Johnson — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:17:56 +0000

Back when I had a summer job on a farm, it was my job one year to service all the hay wagon’s wheel bearings. I think I would have killed for a tool like this back then. I did become quite proficient at hand packing though.

I’ve been doing a little more reading and have found two opposing schools of thought on cleaning bearings. One say that you spin them dry with an air compressor, and another that says that if you spin the bearings without lubricant you’ll damage them. So I’m not sure if this translates into it’s better just to replace the grease and not clean the bearing?

Yet another discussion was that by not cleaning the bearing first you could have problems with grease incompatibilities. I’m not sure I buy this one because just about everyone’s front end would be screwed up by having it lubricated at two different garages

By: Toolaremia

Toolaremia — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:24:29 +0000

I race an old RX-7 with integrated front hubs and brake rotors. The rotors crack after a couple of weekends and then the whole hub/rotor has to be replaced. I also have a big car trailer and a small track-day trailerette. So I am constantly cleaning and repacking bearing sets. I probably do 16-20 bearings a year.

I have one of these and tried it a few times. It packs the bearings quicker than I can, but the setup and clean up is far, far more work than simply packing them by hand.

By: Toolaremia

Toolaremia — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:22:09 +0000

I race an old RX-7 with integrated front hubs and brake rotors. The rotors crack after a couple of weekends and have to be replaced. So I am constantly cleaning and repacking bearing sets. I probably do 16-20 bearings a year.

I have one of these and tried it a few times. It packs the bearings quicker than I can, but the setup and clean up is far, far more work than simply packing them by hand.

By: l_bilyk

l_bilyk — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:11:11 +0000

I don’t like these because they’re a PITA to clean up afterwards

By: ToolFreak

ToolFreak — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 08:39:42 +0000

Since I wanted to use high-temp wheel bearing grease that doesn’t come in tubes or work with a grease gun, I opted for the fully contained hand-press grease packer, which is also from Lisle, but costs more, about $20. It works great, and is perfect for on-the-spot use, without the bulk or mess of a grease gun and open packer.

By: Old Donn

Old Donn — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:52:08 +0000

I’ve got one of these and it works as advertised, but I still clean the bearings with solvent and a brush before repacking.

By: PutnamEco

PutnamEco — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:51:39 +0000

Hey, if you ever have to clean small bearings.
Bearing Blaster.

http://www.rpmrcproducts.com/products/tools/fixtools.htm