In the past I have had mechanics pack my hubs with grease every once in a while but I am looking to do this myself. I always thought you just open the cover on the hub and pack grease in there but in talking with a mechanic friend yesterday, he said that is not the proper way to pack the hubs.

So what should I be doing to put new grease in my hubs? The mechanic I talked to said I should take off the wheel and the hub and apply grease on the two bearings.

 

WOW not sure where to start on this one. I guess first off there is a difference between "hubs" and "bearings". I think what you're referring to is packing the bearings as the hubs should NOT be packed with grease. If indeed you're talking about packing your wheel bearings im sure there is plenty of info on the interwebs and Youtube that would help you do it yourself but there are some specialty tools involved to do it the right way.

 

The only tool needed is a spindle nut socket, o-ring picks are helpful with the spindle nut washer but not necessary.

To pack your wheel bearings get the best wheel bearing grease available, specify that you want the good stuff. Remove the hub and the bearings should fall out of the hub and slide off the spindle. Inspect the bearing races in the hub for wear. Put a healthy daub of grease in your left hand hold the bearing in your right and press a section of it into your palm. If you have the angles right the grease in your palm will be forced into the bearing, when grease squeezes out of the top rotate to a new section of the bearing. After packing the bearings completely take some grease and fill in the hub a little bit, no need to go overboard as the only contacts are the bearing surfaces. Reassemble and roll!

 

Not exactly but...As I said look it up on Youtube there will be plenty of videos showing how to do it correctly.

 

Please explain what specialty tools are required then.

 

Well you should at least have a spindle nut socket and torque wrench, but i was more referring to your sentence saying the wheel bearings will just fall out. Once you remove the locking hub assembly you will have to remove that spindle nut and washer before the bearings come out. Also the rear bearing is pressed into the hub housing so to pack that one the entire wheel hub needs to be taken off and the bearing pulled.

 

The inner bearing isn't pressed into the hub, the hub seal retains it nothing more.

Put the spindle nut socket on a long 1/2" drive extension backwards, lay the hub/rotor flat on the bench inner bearing down. Using the spindle nut end down through the hub to the inner bearing, center it and then smack the end of the extension once or twice with a hammer to knock the seal out of the hub. The seal and bearing fall out, the bearing driving the seal free of the hub.

The seal will not be harmed and if it was is in good shape to start with it can be reused in reassembly after the inner bearing has been packed and put back in place in the hub.

 

Either way the bearings dont just fall out as you said. Anyway the OP would be smart to go online or get a manual with the proper procedure.

 

As mentioned, you do not normally pack the hub full of grease. I'll explain that later.

First put your truck on jackstands, then remove the wheel and brake caliper. Now remove the hub locks. This depends on what hubs you have but eventually you'll get to the spindle nut which you'll want to remove. The outer bearing will come out as you slide the hub/rotor assembly off so be ready to catch it. Use a wooden handle or dowel to punch the inner bearing and grease seal out the back of the hub. Disassembly is done.

Clean all the old grease off the races (this is the part of the bearing that remains in the hub, one per bearing) and the bearings themselves, and just generally give everything a good cleanup. Now it's time to see if your bearings are still good.

Give this a look: http://www.timken.com/en-us/products...ments/6347.pdf

Now whether you are reusing your old bearings or decided you need new ones, you'll have to pack them with grease...

Here's how to do that:
You can also by a bearing packer but in MY opinion they are more trouble than they're worth.

Everything goes together the way it came apart but you will need a torque wrench and need to know the torque specs as well. To do both front wheels takes me about an hour or so, the hardest part is just cleaning all the old grease out.

 

Oh I forgot to explain when you might want to actually pack your hubs full of grease. This is sometimes done if you know you'll be driving thru a lot of deep water. The hubs are warm after driving so when they hit cool water that combined with the natural water pressure of being submerged, can force water into the hubs. If you pack them full of grease then water has less of a place to go. However, I do not do this because I think it's a waste of grease. I simply service my hubs if they happen to go swimming.

 

You should really never pack your locking hubs with grease. This will cause them to have unlocking issues as the grease will stop them from disengaging properly. A light coating of grease is all thats needed.

 

I never actually considered that point either, but it is a good one. Another reason to not pack your hubs lol. I was just putting the info out there that some people do do it.

 

This is also something the mechanic I talked to had mentioned.

 

Putting all the replies together, I can see what is involved in a proper job. I don't want to do that now (I just got done installing a trans in not so favorable conditions). If I need it, I will have it done. I am wondering about this because I now live in a place that has a dirt road I will be traveling on and snowy in the winter. So dirt, snow (more 4x4 time) and bumpy. I probably need new shocks anyway so might just save up and have it all done.

 

I use wheel bearing grease in hub, lithium grease on lockout assembly.