I'm working on the front hubs of the F3 today.
I checked the shop manual and it doesn't say anywhere how much grease gets loaded into the hub in between the inner and outer bearings.
I'll be palming some new grease into each bearing pack...
So that great big empty space in the middle...I have stuffed grease into that area on other vehicles and trailers in the past but I wonder if it's the right amount. I've flung a lot out over the years onto the wheels. Too much might cause unnecessary pressure and not enough is a bad thing too.
Does anyone know of a longstanding rule of thumb for packing grease into our hubs?
Thanks, Tom

 

Tom; I will give you my 2 cents worth for what it is worth. If the area between the bearing are packed with grease, as the bearings warm up the cool grease in-between may have a tendency to wick the warm grease away from the bearings. This is what I was taught early on and I have always just packed the bearings and no more. With out issue except once when I must have left a little too much preload on the bearing and it ended up over-heating and failed, this was on a trailer bearing, and the only bearing failure i have ever experienced.

I'm sure others will share their experience!
Good luck!

 

Most manuals say to pack the area in between. I think the theory is that as the hub and grease heat up, the stuff in the center can flow to the bearings. That said, I usually just put a good glob around the inside of each bearing and call it good.

 

On all of my boat trailers I have "Bearing Buddys" That use spring pressure to keep the hub filled with grease under pressure. With this set up I've never lost a bearing. That being said, I've always loaded the area between the bearings with grease on my vehicles. I've never had a failure from too much grease. I have pulled hubs and found blue bearings and races with a minimal amount of grease on them.

 

I put a generous coating on the spindle and the inside of the hub surfaces just to make sure nothing corrodes if exposed to moisture. No need to pack the area solid with grease. I've seen a lot of military vehicles prone to leaking when packed solid, but that could be due to the fact they use very low quality grease on wheeled vehicles.

 

I agree with Ross and 76-5.0. I have bearing buddies on my boat and flatbed trailer that keep that cavity pretty much full. Guess I always thought a good gob in there was good to go.

 

According to Timken, et al., the grease is supposed to be level with the edge of the inner race. The cavity acts as a reservoir, as grease is basically oil in a spongy medium.

The thought behind bearing buddies is if the cavity is 100% full of grease there won't be room for water intrusion.

 

I put in enough to back up the bearing cone that thickness will vary from one bearing size to another .

 

I agree with the bearing buddy thing. Have never had one go bad. Never had any water in either. Maybe there is something to a big gob in there.

 

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CBeav - looks like we would need a username and password to see that Timken site in the post above.

What were you referring to - was there some instruction you saw on that?

Tom

 

Just register for free access?

 

Thats an interesting site Cbeav! Setup sorta as a tutorial. Here is a quote from the tapered bearing section.


NOTE: For best results, ample space is essential in the housing to allow room for excess grease to be thrown from the bearing and for heat dissipation. It is equally important to retain the grease around the bearing. Normally, the housing should be 1/3 to no more than 1/2 full of grease during bearing assembly. Too much grease in the housing may cause excess churning of the grease and high temperatures.

This is one reason why I like this site, kinda like setting around passing on knowledge and experiences. "shooting the breeze"

 

Thanks guys,
Looks like the way to go is to pack the bearings and then put in a dollop into the hub.
Not too much and not too little.
I just got my wheel seals and cylinders for the F3 so I'll be ready to put it all back together soon.
Tom

 

The manuals as well as the bearing manufacturers specify to fill the hub with wheel bearing grease to a level even with the bearing race. Make no mistake, this is a ****load of grease. Why?

Maybe they should do a better job of explaining why, because it does seem to be somewhat of a mystery. A lot of people ignore this procedure, to no apparent harm. If it's in the manual and bearing manufacturer instructions though, there must be a reason. It doesn't seem to have anything to do with the bearing itself per se.

Wheel bearing grease does not move, ever, once it's put somewhere nor run into the bearing when it gets hot. The only thing that makes sense, is that a hub cavity filled with grease means that no water could occupy the void after fording streams and the like. Some instructions also recommend filling the dust cap half full (that covers spindle and nut) as well.