Repacking front wheel bearings?

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Re: Repacking front wheel bearings?

Post by Cal_Gary »

Hi Key...
I think my Ahl Resto Guide has those parts numbers in it. I'll dig 'em up and post this afternoon (I'm at work right now). Sorry I have no recommendations for the "best grease" nor the torque settings for the hub studs.

Anybody have the missing information to share?
Thanks,
Gary
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Re: Repacking front wheel bearings?

Post by MSeriesRebuild »

keyslammer wrote:I am replacing my REAR wheel bearings and seals (and brake shoes). The rear inner seal had failed and everything was bathed in gear oil. So...I am hoping somebody has a bearing and race part number or can confirm what I have gleaned in my online research. I also would like to know if a modern available grease that would be tolerant of ‘some’ oil contamination.

Here is the REAR bearing info I have (caution: it may be wrong!)
National 2984 - rear outer bearing
National 2924 - rear outer race
SKF SET407 - rear inner bearing and race

What would be the best grease (that can be found at Autozone, O’Reillys, Napa) and toleratesome oil contamination?

Are there torque settings for the hub studs?

Thanks!
The NATIONAL brand on bearings (via what I have seen) is Chinese parts. I'm not saying that as the gospel truth, I'm saying that what I've seen in bearings which bear the NATIONAL brand name has been Chinese, so if you are like me and don't care to run Chinese parts, take a close look at that factor. I'm not familiar with the set # you have, although that could be correct as some bearings do come in sets. Any way the individual inner bearing numbers are 28682 and 28622. The problem you mentioned about gear oil being in the hub, it is common to see that. The problem there is the outer oil seal is not working. Most often the issue there is a bad flange (or seal mating surface) on the outer spindle nut. For a long while now we have been spinning the nuts in a lathe to be sure they are running true. We then install a new speedi-sleeve on the seal mating surface, then lathe bevel the outer edge to the proper contour. This is the only way we have been able to stop oil from getting into the hub. The nut seal mating flange is usually not true to the point of enabling a seal to work correctly, even with a new nut has been my experience.
We always use a premium grease brand, personally I'm unsure of what the sources you mention offer. We use AMSOIL multi-purpose grease. The specs you need to adhere to is a premium brand of NLGI #2, check the specs to be sure it is recommended as a wheel bearing lube. Grease is like everything else, my opinion is to stay away from the cheap stuff, keep in mind that there is a lot of real difference in these products; the days of "grease being grease" are long gone. You get what you pay for, so don't let some keyboard puncher tell you the 99 cent tube that's on sale works great, that won't be the case.
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Re: Repacking front wheel bearings?

Post by Marmalute »

Hi Charles,
Just to be clear, are you talking about nut 7348982?
And, if I understand you correctly, are you putting that in a 6 jaw chuck and spinning it to resurface (true) well enough to accept a speedi-sleeve? And if so do you typically take it down to a given dimension such that you use the same size speedi-sleeve every time? What exactly do you reprofile after sleeve is installed ( “ bevel the edge to proper contour “)?
Thanks again for sharing your insightful knowledge.
Doug
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Re: Repacking front wheel bearings?

Post by MSeriesRebuild »

Marmalute wrote:Hi Charles,
Just to be clear, are you talking about nut 7348982?
And, if I understand you correctly, are you putting that in a 6 jaw chuck and spinning it to resurface (true) well enough to accept a speedi-sleeve? And if so do you typically take it down to a given dimension such that you use the same size speedi-sleeve every time? What exactly do you reprofile after sleeve is installed ( “ bevel the edge to proper contour “)?
Thanks again for sharing your insightful knowledge.
Doug
We spin it to check for trueness, you really can't take any appreciable amount of metal off and end up with the proper diameter in the end. In short form, what I'm saying is this check tells us whether the flange surface is rebuildable or not. If everything falls within proper specs., we can install a sleeve. The attention given after sleeve installation is to trim the sleeve width to a proper dimension. Reason is we have never found a sleeve that is the exact width needed, so we go with a wider dimension so the whole flange width gets a new surface, then trim the excess width for proper fit using the lathe.
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Re: Repacking front wheel bearings?

Post by keyslammer »

[/quote]the individual inner bearing numbers are 28682 and 28622[/quote]

Charles,
Great information...those appear to be the Timken p/n for a bearing and race in place of the SKF set. I will have to put the hub/spindle on the lathe and check for runout as the outer seal clearly failed on my truck. Do you have the Timken p/n for the inner bearing/race set? I'd much rather run USA parts than chinese parts. Here is what I have now:

Inner Bearing - Timken 28682
Inner Race - Timken 28622
Outer Bearing -
Outer Race -

Still looking for a "wheel bearing grease" that won't react poorly to a multi-grade gear oil contaminant.

P.S. I always remove the drum simply because I want to clean them thoroughly and put a little thread release on the studs and face of the hub.

Thanks!

Craig
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Re: Repacking front wheel bearings?

Post by rickf »

I don't think you will ever find a grease that will not react to the gear oil. The oil will always dilute the grease. If they are both dino products then they will still lubricate until you get in there again although not quite as well as straight grease. I doubt you are driving far enough and fast enough for gear oil not to lube the bearings. The problem is the seals are not designed to hold in oil. You may run into a problem if you are running synthetic gear oil and dino grease or vice versa. Some mix and some don't.

Charles, Do you sell those nuts with the sleeves installed? Sounds to me like it would be a good idea for those of us who do not have a lathe to just but a couple.
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Re: Repacking front wheel bearings?

Post by MSeriesRebuild »

keyslammer wrote:
the individual inner bearing numbers are 28682 and 28622[/quote]

Charles,
Great information...those appear to be the Timken p/n for a bearing and race in place of the SKF set. I will have to put the hub/spindle on the lathe and check for runout as the outer seal clearly failed on my truck. Do you have the Timken p/n for the inner bearing/race set? I'd much rather run USA parts than chinese parts. Here is what I have now:

Inner Bearing - Timken 28682
Inner Race - Timken 28622
Outer Bearing -
Outer Race -

Still looking for a "wheel bearing grease" that won't react poorly to a multi-grade gear oil contaminant.

P.S. I always remove the drum simply because I want to clean them thoroughly and put a little thread release on the studs and face of the hub.

Thanks!

Craig[/quote]

Those same numbers are good for Timken and numerous other bearing brands, numbers are not brand specific. 2984 and 2924 are the outer bearing numbers, again not brand specific.
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Re: Repacking front wheel bearings?

Post by MSeriesRebuild »

rickf wrote:I don't think you will ever find a grease that will not react to the gear oil. The oil will always dilute the grease. If they are both dino products then they will still lubricate until you get in there again although not quite as well as straight grease. I doubt you are driving far enough and fast enough for gear oil not to lube the bearings. The problem is the seals are not designed to hold in oil. You may run into a problem if you are running synthetic gear oil and dino grease or vice versa. Some mix and some don't.

Charles, Do you sell those nuts with the sleeves installed? Sounds to me like it would be a good idea for those of us who do not have a lathe to just but a couple.
This is true, oil will always wash the grease out of the bearings. The outer seal is there to keep oil from entering the hub, so if it works properly, all is good. We don't have a lot of outer nuts on hand, we rebuild all that are serviceable for use on our own projects. If you or others want to send some outer nuts in, we will build them with the sleeves and return them to you. Main thing to look for on core nuts is to see that the flange was not cracked or bent out of round. We see this sometimes when they have been tightened or removed with a hammer and chisel. Cost to upgrade them will include the speedi-sleeve and machine labor. Labor time required most often depends on core condition.
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Re: Repacking front wheel bearings?

Post by jim lee »

Is there anything special about the nuts' material? Hardness etc.? Could new ones be lathed out from bar stock?

-jim lee
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Re: Repacking front wheel bearings?

Post by MSeriesRebuild »

jim lee wrote:Is there anything special about the nuts' material? Hardness etc.? Could new ones be lathed out from bar stock?

-jim lee
Sure we could make new ones, I expect my choice would be machined from 4140 alloy. It's much cheaper to rebuild a good core though.
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Re: Repacking front wheel bearings?

Post by jim lee »

I was just asking because a friend of mine owns a CNC shop. He could set it up, let it run overnight and have a ton of them by the morning. I always thought it would be fun to do something like that. It would be even more fun if I could actually sell them..

-jim lee
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Re: Repacking front wheel bearings?

Post by rickf »

I see a conversation between you and Charles in the future Jim. :lol: :lol:
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Re: Repacking front wheel bearings?

Post by MSeriesRebuild »

jim lee wrote:I was just asking because a friend of mine owns a CNC shop. He could set it up, let it run overnight and have a ton of them by the morning. I always thought it would be fun to do something like that. It would be even more fun if I could actually sell them..

-jim lee
We deal with shops that offer CNC machining also, but I don't see producing spindle nuts as being a high volume profitable venture.
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Re: Repacking front wheel bearings?

Post by rickf »

If I still had my lathe I would be interested in doing a lot of them just in the break even range just to help guys out. No offense to you guys but it is not always about profit, how much profit would you make on an axle nut? I sold that lathe in 91 a year after I closed my shop figuring I would never have a use for it again. I don't think it was gone 6 months and I was kicking myself! Then again, I am an old guy with time on my hands so labor is not an issue with me as it would be for a job shop.
1953 M37
1964 M151A1
1967 M416
1984 M1008
4/1952 M100
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