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Here's an interesting wheel bearing idea...

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FSJunkie View Drop Down
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    Posted: Oct/19/2016 at 2:19am
I have a model-15 axle with tapered axle shafts, non-c-clip.

Like most semi-floating live axles, the wheel bearings are sealed from the axle lubricant by an inner seal, and sealed from the outside world by an outer seal. The bearings are not easily accessible for greasing, so they are greased at the time of assembly and you just run them until they die, which is typically somewhere around 100,000 miles. Usually the bearing fails from the lubricating grease becoming contaminated because the seals never seal perfectly.

I just spent the last few days pulling my wheel flanges and pressing off and on new wheel bearings. It's not fun. A pretty stupid design, honestly. Flanged axles are so much easier.

Anyway...I work on a lot of prewar cars, and many of them used a design similar to this, but had either a grease cup or grease zerk on the axle housing by the wheel bearings (right behind the brake backing plate) so you could periodically pump fresh grease into the wheel bearings. I'm thinking about drilling and tapping a hole in my axle housing to accept a grease zerk. Then I could pump fresh grease in every once in a while and make my wheel bearings last a whole lot longer.

I think the trick here would be to not over-grease the bearings, because then the grease could squish out and contaminate the brake linings. I think one pump of the grease gun every 15,000 miles should do the trick. This would help to push out old, contaminated grease with fresh new grease.

Thoughts? Anybody try it? I don't see any potential drawbacks.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote maximus7001 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct/19/2016 at 5:54am
My Eagle has grease fittings for the rear wheel bearings. This was part of a marine towing package from when the car was new. I am the second owner. First owner bought the car new to launch his boats. So yes it has been done.

Edited by maximus7001 - Oct/19/2016 at 6:25am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 304-dude Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct/19/2016 at 6:05am
I too have seen post 60s axles with zerk behind the backing plate. Just rare occasion, and random examiation from a mix of various manufacturers.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Red Devil Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct/19/2016 at 9:57am
Stock axle shaft & hub design is actually pretty good for positively locating and loading the bearing ... flanged axles often rely on a pressed-on locking ring to hold the bearing in place on the shaft, so not retained as positively as the machined shoulder on the stock shaft. Flanged axle shafts still need a puller (or cut-off the bearing lock ring and bearing) and a press to properly R&R the bearing.

Some of the Jeep guys add a grease fitting. Issue is ensuring the grease actually gets into the rollers where it's needed and not over-greasing and pushing grease in past the inner seal into the diff or out into the drum.

If you're running through water or otherwise concerned that it isn't getting relubed often enough, just pull the whole axle shaft, hub and backing plate assembly and clean and repack and reassemble ... similar to doing a front bearing service. Can replace the inner seal, just not the outer without separating the hub. A needle-adapter on a grease gun helps to repack without removing the bearing.

Hope this helps,RD.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 6768rogues Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct/19/2016 at 10:25pm
My 66 Jeep also has factory grease fittings for the outer bearings. I would install them in my other old cars, but I have never had a bearing fail. Maybe I am lucky, but that is my experience and I have put a lot of miles on my old cars.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tomj Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct/19/2016 at 11:09pm
i did that on my roadster, the old 'big nut' AMC15. i too noticed the holes top and bottom. i put a 90-degree zerk in the bottom, and loosely tapped a dowel pin in the top. remove it as air escape when greasing. i didn't leave it in long enough to know if it was a good idea. my biggest worry was that the grease gun pressure would blow out the inner seal. 

i've got a narrowed mustang axle in there now, and it is a superior design.

here's a picture of the AMC15 with zerk.



Edited by tomj - Oct/19/2016 at 11:26pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote FSJunkie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct/20/2016 at 1:19am
I ended up not doing it.

I figured that continuously pumping grease into a sealed housing would be a bad plan unless the grease had a way out, like a second hole with a threaded plug that could be removed. Even then I also thought that grease would only come out this relief hole once the housing was packed completely full, and that wouldn't allow for thermal expansion. The hole would have to be left open like a breather.

There is a reason the factory didn't install a grease zerk I suppose.

Servicing these tapered shafts isn't a big deal once you get that darned hub off. With 300 foot-pounds of torque on that nut and the hub on a tapered, keyed, and splined shaft, it's not a fun ordeal.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Lucas660 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct/20/2016 at 6:33am
As Red Devil has mentioned you can get to the bearings without pulling the hub, but you can't replace them. I would be very careful not to damage the shims for end play if you are doing this, but it can be achieved. I would also be worried about blowing the seals out with the grease gun. It's one of those things, had to do front wheel bearings and lower ball joints in my daily driver the other day, but it has 200+ thousand miles on it. I won't have to worry about it for a long time.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote farna Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct/20/2016 at 6:21pm
Bearings typically last well over 100,000 miles. So you generally only change them once in your lifetime. No point in over engineering by adding a zerk. Way back in the 40s and 50s grease and seals weren't near as good as modern stuff. Replacement seals are made from better material, and of course the grease you reassemble everything is better. I suspect that by the late 60s cars that still had zerks were just there because the design hadn't been updated yet, but most were gone by then.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote FSJunkie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct/21/2016 at 12:15pm
I think somebody had already replaced these bearings before me, because they were in excellent shape and said "Koyo, Japan" on them and the OE bearings should have been "Timken, USA". That means they were replaced before 109,000 miles because that's when I bought this car. It has 138,000 now.

I had the brakes disassembled to replace blown wheel cylinders so I thought I might as well pull the shafts to inspect the bearings. After all the headache it takes to pull the hubs and shafts, I decided to spend the extra $30 to replace the bearings even though they were in good shape. Pulling the hub and shaft is too much work to go through just to reinstall old bearings.

Those hubs are not easy to get off.

The flanged axles in my Jeep are WAY easier to remove the shaft and grease the bearings. You don't even have to disassemble the brakes. Just remove the brake backing plat bolts, slide hammer out the shaft, inject some grease into the bearing, and slide the shaft back in.

But I do like the tapered axle design in regards that the press-fit of the bearing to the shaft isn't what holds your wheel on like the flanged design. I remember pressing on and off the bearings and retainer collar on my Jeep's flanged axle and the kind of force it too on a hydraulic press to do it. Somewhere on the order or 30 tons.

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