Greasing Chevy sealed wheel bearings

[CORVAIRWILD]

$45+sh for my 2wd 1500 2002 Sub. $3 less for a 4wd, go figure?

CHEVROLET 2002 SUBURBAN 1500 5.3L V8 Brake/Wheel Hub Wheel Bearing & Hub Assembly
Price
RAYBESTOS 713067 Professional Grade; 1.615" Inner Diameter Info
[Flag indicates this part fits vehicles sold in the US Market. It does not indicate where the part was made -- manufacturers produce parts in multiple factories worldwide.] [Flag indicates this part fits vehicles sold in the Canadian Market. It does not indicate where the part was made -- manufacturers produce parts in multiple factories worldwide.] Rear; Except 9-1/2 IN Ring Gear


$16.19
WJB WA515036 {#515036} Includes Sensor Info One of our most popular parts
[Flag indicates this part fits vehicles sold in the US Market. It does not indicate where the part was made -- manufacturers produce parts in multiple factories worldwide.] [Flag indicates this part fits vehicles sold in the Canadian Market. It does not indicate where the part was made -- manufacturers produce parts in multiple factories worldwide.] Front; 4WD; Standard Hub Unit


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$42.79
WJB WA515054 {#515054} Includes Sensor Info
[Flag indicates this part fits vehicles sold in the US Market. It does not indicate where the part was made -- manufacturers produce parts in multiple factories worldwide.] [Flag indicates this part fits vehicles sold in the Canadian Market. It does not indicate where the part was made -- manufacturers produce parts in multiple factories worldwide.] Front; RWD


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$45.79

[CORVAIRWILD]

Funny how hidden info shows up when you copy and paste

[CORVAIRWILD]

I'm trying to show the relationship of the cap with the rollers, there's only a minimal area to drill to put the needle through to get grease under the inside rollers.
The ABS sensor still has to be removed to hope to get grease to the outer flange side rollers.

[CORVAIRWILD]

My ABS sensor magnet broke off when the bearing outer ring moved towards the wheel mounting flange. Notice in the photo that the inner hub on the junk rear bearing is sticking out almost half an inch from the knuckle mounting flange.

[peteco]

Resurrecting an old thread here. I am getting ready to hit 100k miles and am planning to grease the front hub bearings again. Just wondering if anyone has any new thoughts on this process.

[booster]

Nothing new here. I have been giving our about 3-5 pumps of grease to each of the bearings with our homemade angle nozzle and then blowing it into the bearing with compressed air. I do it once a year when I check the brakes and rotors. I probably can convince myself the wheel rotates better after greasing, but I think that is likely just because I want it to.

I do check our hub temperatures quite often, and they have been very consistent over the years, so we don't see the warmer bump that others have mentioned from filling the cavity with grease, but we also have no way to know if we truly got grease to the bearings well.

One good thing for us is since I changed the rear axle to the full floating version, the front and rear hubs run nearly identical temperatures. This makes it very easy to spot if a hub is running warmer as it takes out the environmental issues which can have a significant effect on the hub temps.

[peteco]

Originally Posted by booster

Nothing new here. I have been giving our about 3-5 pumps of grease to each of the bearings with our homemade angle nozzle and then blowing it into the bearing with compressed air. I do it once a year when I check the brakes and rotors. I probably can convince myself the wheel rotates better after greasing, but I think that is likely just because I want it to.

Since you have done it several times do you have any suggestions on removing the caliper mount bracket. It had some thread lock on it and it was hard to break free. I put some of the blue removable thread lock on when I reassembled. I wondered if I put enough torque on the bolt as it had a value higher than my torque wrench.

[booster]

Originally Posted by peteco

Since you have done it several times do you have any suggestions on removing the caliper mount bracket. It had some thread lock on it and it was hard to break free. I put some of the blue removable thread lock on when I reassembled. I wondered if I put enough torque on the bolt as it had a value higher than my torque wrench.

They are mighty tight, to be sure. I usually use a 1/2" breaker bar with a piece of pipe on it, both coming out and going in. If the pipe is the right length, the torque will repeat pretty well if I am near maxed out on me, I hope (the calipers haven't fallen off yet).

[peteco]

Originally Posted by booster

They are mighty tight, to be sure. I usually use a 1/2" breaker bar with a piece of pipe on it, both coming out and going in. If the pipe is the right length, the torque will repeat pretty well if I am near maxed out on me, I hope (the calipers haven't fallen off yet).

Do you put thread lock on the bolt?

[booster]

I have done it both ways with blue locker or not and didn't see any difference that I noticed coming off the next time. I think it may get a bit hot in that area so it degrades or it may just be that they are so tight that the torque is a lot higher than the added holding power. It certainly can't hurt to use locker, though.

[TX-Trek]

Bringing this thread up again .....
The van mileage is about 84k miles and I think making the grease fitting as Booster had done is a good idea. Our van has the offset AR wheels, and although the front hubs are quiet, this looks like a very good idea.
So if I understand right, insert the fitting, pump with the hole inboard, then do the same after turning the hole outboard. Do each while slightly rotating the hub. I did see discussion about how much grease to pump in there - I would tend to not pack it full. Seems 10-12 pumps on the 3500 hubs may be ok?
Silly question probably, but I assume that each (inboard and outboard) bearing face that is towards the abs reluctor wheel is open and is thus exposed to the new grease? Which seems to support Booster's use of an air nozzle to help "push" the new grease towards each bearing. Just trying to visualize the process.

[booster]

Originally Posted by TX-Trek

Bringing this thread up again .....
The van mileage is about 84k miles and I think making the grease fitting as Booster had done is a good idea. Our van has the offset AR wheels, and although the front hubs are quiet, this looks like a very good idea.
So if I understand right, insert the fitting, pump with the hole inboard, then do the same after turning the hole outboard. Do each while slightly rotating the hub. I did see discussion about how much grease to pump in there - I would tend to not pack it full. Seems 10-12 pumps on the 3500 hubs may be ok?
Silly question probably, but I assume that each (inboard and outboard) bearing face that is towards the abs reluctor wheel is open and is thus exposed to the new grease? Which seems to support Booster's use of an air nozzle to help "push" the new grease towards each bearing. Just trying to visualize the process.

Your description is pretty much what I do now, except I also stick a small air hose in and blow the grease of the reluctor wheel and toward the bearings. I had started with fewer pumps but have increased it until I could feel a bit of resistance turning which should be the grease getting to the bearing.


Of note is that bearing that we had fail was silent right up until it started locking up.

[TX-Trek]

Thank you very much.

As PM I was first going to replace both front hubs. May sound overkill to some, but I'd rather do it in my garage vs on the road somewhere. However, looking at the info, it appears that if the bearings are still good, the addition of the new grease may extend the lifespan. I was thinking to use the Kendall grease that was mentioned.

In looking at the drip point temp of grease I got to thinking that there's normal highway running temp and increased temp from using brakes - even sparingly - on long declines. I got caught out on a long decline before I could use the manual shift for engine braking, literally had light smoke at all 4 wheels - more on the fronts as expected - by the time I got stopped. Severe duty semi metallic pads. I'm going over the brakes upon our return but I can't help but think the hub bearings absorbed some of that heat. So for me the grease drip point is of importance.

I think you use Royal Purple? I'll look at those specs as well. I remember the mention that the Kendall grease seemed to match what's commonly used.

[booster]

Originally Posted by TX-Trek

Thank you very much.

As PM I was first going to replace both front hubs. May sound overkill to some, but I'd rather do it in my garage vs on the road somewhere. However, looking at the info, it appears that if the bearings are still good, the addition of the new grease may extend the lifespan. I was thinking to use the Kendall grease that was mentioned.

In looking at the drip point temp of grease I got to thinking that there's normal highway running temp and increased temp from using brakes - even sparingly - on long declines. I got caught out on a long decline before I could use the manual shift for engine braking, literally had light smoke at all 4 wheels - more on the fronts as expected - by the time I got stopped. Severe duty semi metallic pads. I'm going over the brakes upon our return but I can't help but think the hub bearings absorbed some of that heat. So for me the grease drip point is of importance.

I think you use Royal Purple? I'll look at those specs as well. I remember the mention that the Kendall grease seemed to match what's commonly used.

Good question on the replacement or not. I am risk aversive so I probably would, but I am sure some others wouldn't. I don't doubt you will buy some time to failure, but how long is pretty much unknown. The fact that ours, and some others we have heard of, made no noise to warn of impending failure is a bit unnerving as you have very little time to get off the road and too a place to get them fixed.



I chose the Royal Purple based on the specs, particularly high temp handling capability. The bearing areas are different than a lot of grease use areas in that the run vertically and the grease can't be lost outside of the hubs so I am not so sure a very high dropping temp is needed. I used the Royal Purple in my 96 Buick front hubs, which old style adjustable tapered royal type and found the grease stayed in the bearings very well and stayed clean a long time compared to some other "wheel bearing" greases I had around. Can't speak for the Kendall as I have never used it.

[peteco]

Originally Posted by TX-Trek

Thank you very much.

As PM I was first going to replace both front hubs. May sound overkill to some, but I'd rather do it in my garage vs on the road somewhere. However, looking at the info, it appears that if the bearings are still good, the addition of the new grease may extend the lifespan. I was thinking to use the Kendall grease that was mentioned.

In looking at the drip point temp of grease I got to thinking that there's normal highway running temp and increased temp from using brakes - even sparingly - on long declines. I got caught out on a long decline before I could use the manual shift for engine braking, literally had light smoke at all 4 wheels - more on the fronts as expected - by the time I got stopped. Severe duty semi metallic pads. I'm going over the brakes upon our return but I can't help but think the hub bearings absorbed some of that heat. So for me the grease drip point is of importance.

I think you use Royal Purple? I'll look at those specs as well. I remember the mention that the Kendall grease seemed to match what's commonly used.

My experience on 2006 RT 210P. Has AR aluminum rims with the wrong offset. I don’t like the offset issue but I do like the lower weight of the aluminum versus the steel replacement with the correct offset.

Replaced a hub in 2013 at 50k miles because I thought I felt a little roughness in the hub. Actually, now I think it was OK. The original was an SKF and I replaced with a Timken, which I think was made in US. I lubed the other original hub at the same time. Lubed both hubs again in 2021 at 130k miles. I have used standard Valvoline wheel bearing grease. So no problems thusfar, but the greases you and booster mention would probably be better.

Regarding changing out for new hubs. Parts have become such a crapshoot these days. Hard to find quality parts from a country you trust. Even then, some quality issues have emerged from trusted parts manufacturers and countries, sad to say even the US. If you go with new hubs, I would lube them from the start. And you might want to lube the old hubs and perhaps carry one as a spare on really long trips.

[booster]

Originally Posted by peteco

My experience on 2006 RT 210P. Has AR aluminum rims with the wrong offset. I don’t like the offset issue but I do like the lower weight of the aluminum versus the steel replacement with the correct offset.

Replaced a hub in 2013 at 50k miles because I thought I felt a little roughness in the hub. Actually, now I think it was OK. The original was an SKF and I replaced with a Timken, which I think was made in US. I lubed the other original hub at the same time. Lubed both hubs again in 2021 at 130k miles. I have used standard Valvoline wheel bearing grease. So no problems thusfar, but the greases you and booster mention would probably be better.

Regarding changing out for new hubs. Parts have become such a crapshoot these days. Hard to find quality parts from a country you trust. Even then, some quality issues have emerged from trusted parts manufacturers and countries, sad to say even the US. If you go with new hubs, I would lube them from the start. And you might want to lube the old hubs and perhaps carry one as a spare on really long trips.

Yeah, Timkin vs SKF is a continual discussion. Timkin used to be tops, but with globablization who knows anymore. The original one on our van that failed way early, maybe 20K miles or so was an SKF as were the replacedments I put in. The 2007 bearings were the ones that failed the soonest, often very early. Same with the pinion bearings, but that was an axle casting issue.


IIRC there is an aluminum wheel with the right offset available now, but it may be in 17" but there are adequate rating tires for it. It is on the site somewhere and I will see if I can find it. I did consider switching when we put on new tires but decided not, but probably should have changed.


The grease is also one of those with as many opinions as ........ but I think the consensus for bearings is generally the best, in your opinion, top line synthetic grease. How it clings and pulls into the bearing is what really matters the most, I think.

[booster]

I found the discussion with the aluminum wheels. Wish I had done it when we got tires.


https://www.classbforum.com/forums/f...vies-9602.html

[TX-Trek]

Very good info.
I've also had the "now it's fine, now it's not" bearing failure a couple of times before on other vehicles. I'm really thinking now to just install new hubs and I've also considered the Timken vs SKF vs OEM discussion. I think OEM is either SKF or Timken (just a guess) and I think either brand can be luck of the draw as you mentioned.
Booster I'm in the risk adversive camp as well. Since I'll be pulling brakes to resurface rotors/ new pads it's not that much more work to replace the front hubs. Either Timken or SKF hubs and I can stash the current hubs in the van as spares if needed. As mentioned add lube to both new and removed hubs. That seems to be a reasonable approach especially since I'm not paying to have the work done.

[TX-Trek]

Home in one piece, a great trip, so now it will be maintenance time...

I decided to get 2 new SKF hubs and will pre-lube them with Kendal L-427 Super-Blu grease. I'll stash the original delco hubs as spares but will also add lube to them. I saw a post where the SKF had anti-tamper bolts attaching the abs sensor, which is pretty silly to me, as I'm sure they associate any warranty with the bolts. I'll still probably replace them with the regular oem bolts and add lube to the new hubs. I'll take the warranty risk.

The biggest decision was which brand to get, just really a toss-up.

[peteco]

Originally Posted by TX-Trek

Home in one piece, a great trip, so now it will be maintenance time...

I decided to get 2 new SKF hubs and will pre-lube them with Kendal L-427 Super-Blu grease. I'll stash the original delco hubs as spares but will also add lube to them. I saw a post where the SKF had anti-tamper bolts attaching the abs sensor, which is pretty silly to me, as I'm sure they associate any warranty with the bolts. I'll still probably replace them with the regular oem bolts and add lube to the new hubs. I'll take the warranty risk.

The biggest decision was which brand to get, just really a toss-up.

Let us know where the SKF hubs are made.