JunJun

Front hub seals need to be replaced every time the grease is repacked?

12,000 km (1 year and 5 months) ago, I replaced all the bearings and seals and the grease was repacked.

I just hope the seals are re-usable.

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

It's basically impossible to get the bearings out without damaging the seal. Since you have to take them out to re-pack them, that means it requires a new seal each time. No big deal though, the seal is quite cheap.

With that little use, they shouldn't need to be re-packed yet though. If properly packed, the lube interval should be about 5 - 6 times the distance they've gone.

JunJun

Thanks for the reply.
Ok, then it's too early to repack grease, right?
It's just there's some little movement of the front wheel when pushed and pulled at the top or the bottom of the tire.
Just re-adjusting the hub nut would be enough then?
(BTW street use only)

JunJun

I disassembled the front hubs, and yes, the grease was still clean and enough, and bearings seemed ok and there was no scratch in the shaft.
So I just re-torqued the hub nuts carefully, and then the vertical movement was gone.

Probably routine re-torquing is necessary when movement of front wheels are found.

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

Yes, that should be OK.

Correct tightness is fairly tight, with some significant preload on the bearing: I usually tighten the nut while spinning the rotor, to about 6 - 8 ft-lbs on the nut (which is too tight); spin the thing a few more times to let the bearings align themselves; loosen the nut ¼ turn or so; then re-tighten it to about 3 - 4 ft-lbs, then keep tightening until the first available hole for the cotter pin lines up.

Properly tightened, they shouldn't need to be touched again for at least the lifetime of the brakes; something in the 30,000 - 50,000 mile neighborhood. I usually end up re-packing mine about every second brake job, on basically any car I have ever had with this style of wheel bearings.

JunJun

Thanks for the reply.

I tightened the hub nuts according to the Chilton manual, which says tighten the nut with 12 ft lbs rotating the disk, and back the nut off, and retighten by hand.

Compared with yours, retightening torque seems weak.
Actually, I retightened last time too according to the Chilton, and it got loosened in one year or so.
So probably your setting will work better.
Next time I will try in your way.
Thanks!

Canucksfan1

Just a tip a way to get the seal off without damage after removing he outer bearing pop the spindle nut back on hook it on the inner bearing and give the rotor a quick yank. You'll end up with the rotor in your hand and the bearing and seal sitting on the spindle.

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

How old are your ball joints?