Could somebody tell me if this is the correct way to pack wheel bearings? If it's not, please tell me the correct way.

After getting the bearings off, I put a fair amount of grease in my hand then rolled the bearing over it trying to force the grease into the roller. Then I took a fingerful and spread it around the inside of the bearing. Is that all there is to it?

Jason

 

Of course we'll assume the bearings are totally clean.

Place a glob of grease a little smaller than a golf ball into the palm of your hand. Force the grease with your palm into the bearing into the inner(engine) side of the bearing until your see grease come out the opposite side. Rotate bearing slightly and continue until grease fills the inside of the bearing(between the roller retainers). You will be pushing grease parallel to the axis of the roller bearings. Don't cover the outside with a bunch of grease it will only be more difficult to get the proper torque when you put on the rotor.

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350 Vortec, forged flat-tops, CompCams XE268, Edlebrock RPM, Holley 3310, TH350 w/Holeshot 2400, 3.23 posi, Heddman shorties, HEI

 

for less that 10 dollars you can buy a little fixture to hold the bearings and use a greese gun to pack them with. just make sure the greese is rated for bearings.

 

Getting the packer is very, very smart. The way you described it sounds like bearing failure will be knocking on your door soon. It can be done by packing in the palm of your hand like Eric says, but your statement that you were "trying" to force it in is scary.

Another thing about the grease type: Avoid moly greases, even if they say it's rated for bearings. The moly forms a heat barrier that forces the bearing to retain the generated heat. Not good for high speed bearings such as our front wheel bearings with disc brakes. Moly is fine for low speed applications such as ball joints and tie rod ends.

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82 Berlinetta, orig V-6 car. Rescued w/86 LG4/TH700R with all harnesses, sensors, ECM, etc. 2.73 open, cat-back from '91 GTA, Accel HEI SuperCoil. AMSOIL syn lubes bumper-to-bumper. Daily driver, work-in-progress (LB9 w/ZZ3 cam, ported heads, exhaust, paint, etc.).
57 Bel Air, my 1st car. Currently 396 .030 over, Weiand Action+, Edelbrock 1901 Q-Jet, Jacobs Omnipack, 1-3/4" headers, TH400 w/TCI Sat Night Special conv & shift kit, 3.08 10-bolt, AMSOIL syn lubes bumper-to-bumper. Best 15.1 @ 5800' Bandimere. Daily driver while Camaro was being put together.

 

It's really very simple, not critical at all. What you did sounds about right. Check this out for more info:
http://www.timken.com/bearings/techtips/tipv3-2.asp

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FORMULA 350 TK
Southern California 3rd Generation F-Body OrganizationŠ