Thread: Packing wheel bearings.

Originally Posted by Aaron

they did use a lifting aid..... the second time!

As for the winching one, that when i turned it on. did they do that with just man power and, say, 5 blocks? or was there some other gizmo in there?

yep using what looked to be 5 blocks they ran what seemed to be a 4:1 compound pull rigged to disadvantage...

Id have done it as a 4:1 compound pull rigged to advantage and gotten effectively a total of 5:1 for mechanical effort.

by compount pull I mean using more than one seperate pully unit on the same item which spreads the pull over more than one attachment point. IF theyd done it with a multiple sheave block it would have been a simple pull. theres a few ways of rigging compound pulls and theirs was the simplest (well they are americans)

Isn't a multi sheath block just a load of single blocks made into one unit? After all its the number of times the rope goes backwards and forwards between pullies that matters not how many different anchor points you hang them on. Any way using lots of pulleys in the way they did spread the load out across the front of the Hummer. Using a multi sheath block would put all the load in one place. Those army Hummers weigh shed loads and the fact that the bumper is still on it would suggest that they knew what they were doing even if Mike Rowe didn't!!!

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Called a bearing greaser - never used one though.

The main problem I see with the idea of melting the grease to apply it is that wheel bearing grease is designed NOT to melt when it gets hot, so you would have to use a pretty high temperature, possibly high enough to damage the bearing.

John

Or at the very least destroy the Grease, Bearing grease packers are good on small wheel bearings (big ones too) because they are awkward to hold, but L/R size ones are OK, Regards Frank.

Originally Posted by wannalandy

I wonder if it is possible to design a case for the bearing to sit in ( sealed ) with a grease nipple on it and just pump the grease into the case packing the bearing ?

Can Buy bearing grease packers at most Tool and Spares shops, Regards Frank.

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

yea,, be clean, some of the bearings I used were worth upwards of a grand so ALL precautions were taken, new cans of grease, gloves, glad wrap, rollershutters closed, etc,

The fitters at my last work broke a $4000 bearing.
It was a rather large spherical roller bearing, flown from Aussie.

Originally Posted by foz.in.oz

Before the days of sealed 'O' ring motorcycle chains and aerosol lubricants it was common practice (in the UK) to place the chain in a tin of grease and heat the tin until the grease melted and filled the chain. Said grease was actually supplied in the tin for the purpose. Also when doing my apprenticeship we used to have a special inductive bearing heater that warmed bearings up to allow them to be fitted to transition fit parts. The inductive heater warmed the bearing evenly to avoid hotspots that could damage the heat treatment of the races (warning - don't use on bearings with plastic cages).
From my experience I can see no reason why you shouldn't be able to heat a breaing in grease to fully lubricate it, so long as you don't go to hot to degrade the grease. That said the idea of clamping the bearing between two cones and injecting the grease with a grease gun sounds alot easier and safer to do. Hot gease, frying pan oil would be very nasty if spilt on the skin and would also be more flammable.

The whole idea of Bearing grease, esp. for Disc brake hubs is not to melt, but stay paste like so as to lubricate and cool the balls/rollers and races.
I think if you heat modern bearing grease till it's liquid (for the purpose of dunking bearings into) you will have stuffed it, Packing bearings by hand is fun and you can feel when it is properly lubed, I have a bearing packer and I only use it on small bearings that are hard to hold, Regards Frank.

Grease injectors can be bought at most good tool stores. Basically a grease nipple on the end of a v. small diameter tube. Come in several sizes of tube. as well as filling wheel bearings, they are good for inserting under the seal ring of a sealed bearing and giving them a fill-up.

Originally Posted by Dougal

The fitters at my last work broke a $4000 bearing.
It was a rather large spherical roller bearing, flown from Aussie.

biggest ones i have seen were about 2ft inner diameter opposed roller thrust races in the drive for the legs on a be dragline. you used to pump them up with a hydraulic pump like a porta power head to expand them so you could move them... hard yakka..... never broke one thankfully...