Grease for wheel bearing question
 

I trust you guys more than the folks at the auto parts store, so let me ask an easy question.

I just got my new rear wheel bearing from Welsh. Unlike everywhere else I've shopped, they do not include grease for the bearing.

Is there anything I should watch out for when I buy a can of grease for this job?

Probably a dumb question but better safe than sorry. Plus this gives you a heads up when you are shopping for bearings yourself. Welsh neither gives you grease nor reminds you to purchase a new hub nut.

Thanks. John

When I purchased new Timken bearings (same as the OEM bearings that came out) they did not come pregreased, either. I bought a small tub of Timken grease (from Amazon for $13) to pack them.

Funny you should bring this up, I just had a discussion with the Napa clerk yesterday about this. I had noticed that the Napa tube grease is “chassis and bearing” grease. I recall in my younger years packing bearings with my old man, and we used the same grease out of the grease gun that we used on zerk fittings. The Napa clerk said they did the same thing, but tolerances are a bit tighter now a days, so different grease, but also said much of it probably has to do with liability on the manufacturers part. I have heard elsewhere that chassis grease is going to be heavier/thicker than bearing grease. I also believe it may be a marketing thing. You’d probably be fine using either, as apparently Napa brand is confident you can use theirs for either, I just chose to use the bearing grease for peace of mind.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Chillyphilly, I look forward to using your excellent instructions to do this job later today. It'll be interesting to see how long this job takes the 2 nd time around.

As long as I don't find any surprises it'll be a couple of hours at the most.

John

Wash all the preservative grease out of the bearing and tap it in the palm of your hand , not a hard object . Put some bearing grease in the palm of your hand and place a portion of the bearing on top of the grease " like hitting a tambourine " and push it in , move around the bearing circumference and push in , a watching the grease push through to the outside bearing cage . The part store will have grease marked as bearing and not general grease .

Check visually the ID and OD bearing " seat " ID and OD for galling or other damage . See below :

Surface texture of bearing seats

The decision to reuse the hub nut is a judgement call if it has enough bite to not spin off . Safest thing is to replace it . Better safe then sorry .

Use a good quality synthetic grease, for the same reasons one would use a a good synthetic oil. It helps to have a grease injector tool that fits around the bearing and forces grease into all the voids.


Z