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Wheel Bearing Temps High, grease & Preload Q's

Hainebd

New member
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Location
Mays Landing, NJ
Look, lock rings waskers get used once. Remove and throw away. Replace cups and cones as new sets, they are ground to fit together. Always pack the seal lip with grease. Also a tight bearing will burn up, a lose one will run forever. Small amount of play will go away when bearings warm up. If u set to tight then when hot the preload will be excessive. This info passed on to me from my Dad 35 years ago and I still apply it every time I do bearing work. Trucks, cars, trailers, industrial gear boxes.please keep in mind that some preload is required and the engineers have worked this out for all new components. A 40 year old truck with any mileage is not new.
 

RAYZER

Well-known member
3,380
59
48
Location
sanford/florida
Re: Wheel Bearing Temps High, grease & Preload Q's

I too am having the hot hub problem after flipping my hubs,i'm pretty sure i simply have the bearings too tight,the grease i used was Lucas Red and Tacky,I gotta ask,is this grease acceptable for the wheel bearings in our Deuces?Has anyone else used if for theirs?
I use the red and tacky and have put thousands of miles on using it.I'll stick with it!
 

rustystud

Well-known member
9,259
2,945
113
Location
Woodinville, Washington
SIDE NOTE: The mechanic used the blunt chisel method to tighten the lock nuts. He says he does this because using a socket tends to shear the keyway "tit" off the star/lock ring. To be honest, I'd probably prefer to use a toirquewrench and socket instead of a chisel because I do tend to believe that the lock nut has to be degraded by this method over time. BUT I'm no expert!! & I CERTAINLY didn't want to tell him how to do his job! (I felt I was ALREADY on the verge of doing that with the regrease & re-preload requests!) Nice guy! He was pretty receptive to my suggestions and put a lot of extra hours in on this job! But I did back up my suggestions with either a Maintenance Spec or a SteelSoldiiers reference!! So that gave me SOME additional credabiliity!

I don't know what kind of mechanic you went to, but NO truck mechanic especially a certified one would ever use a chisel to tighten a wheel nut !!! That is total bullcr@p what he said about the tang breaking off.
Also, most heavy trucks have around .002" endplay on the wheels when cold. Due to the mass of the rotating assembly, it can really get hot, and when metal gets hot it expands. If the wheel bearings where adjusted with no play when it was cold, then after the bearings get warm from driving you would have a negative endplay, meaning the bearings are too tight !!! Causing even more heat! All the axle manufactures have a bearing preload procedure, which when done right will have endplay, usually around .002". At our shop at the transit agency, we had a new mechanic adjust the wheel bearings like a car, no endplay. After 4 hours on the road, the buss came back with all the oil in the hub blown out all over the wheel. It was so hot, you could not even touch the tire rims ! Remember guys, this is a medium truck not a car or pick-up ! I know this is an old thread, but when I read that statement about the mechanic tightening that jam nut like that, I got so mad, I could hardly see straight ! It makes the rest of us Professional mechanics look like fools. I had a full year of trade school, 4 years of apprenticeship, and at least 2 weeks of special training EVERY year to keep up with changing technology since becoming a journeyman mechanic. Nowadays I guess anyone can call themselves a mechanic if they changed a spark plug !
 

harryhr

Member
98
18
8
Location
Niagara Falls, New York
I have a major problem getting the bearings off the spindle left hand side brake drum. I had no problem pulling the bearings and break drum on the right side. Seems the first bearing race is frozen to the spindle which is not a good thing as I cannot break it loose even though I've sprayed rust penetrating fluid for two days in a roll and let it sit and tried to break it free today. It's not budging. This trailer is a 1964 and I don't think the bearings on the left side were ever lubed or replaced because the inside of the hubcap was caked with mud and the bearings are caked as far as I can tell. This trailer sat outside for who knows how long. The trailer bed is rotted thru, so I cut it out last fall and had a new replacement floor welded in. I would like to completely restore the trailer. I have the two large nuts off and the two spacers off but the bearings will not budge. I tried a center punch to knock it loose from the spindle but to no avail. Any suggestions? Can I heat up the bearing race with a welding torch to expand it enough to break it loose or just try to torch cut the race? Any and all suggestions and help would be greatly appreciated by me. Harry
 

Hainebd

New member
520
5
0
Location
Mays Landing, NJ
The red tacky grease is good. Banana grease is better. Full synthetic, will not break down in heat to 1,000 f. For what we do a good wheel bearing grease will work.
the wheel bearing has spun on the spindle. You need to grind down the spindle at the bearing. I knock the cage apart p then remove the rollers. Pull wheel off, split the inner race that is stuck on spindle.
 

jimk

In Memorial
In Memorial
1,046
45
48
Location
Syracuse, New York
The inner race needs some lube as it is designed to spin slowly against the spindle. Sounds like it galled and seized. Grind and smash as stated above. Don't go all the way thru just weaken it. Wear glasses. Hit it hard. Clean up spindle if galled. Lube spindle...

If I could I'd tell the Fort Drum mechanic (probably a soldier) how to do his job. He/ she chiseled all nuts on my 5 ton. Five of the 6 were loose, one had backed off to rub end of the rear axle, dug into that for a while. This was done while in service. Lesson learned- always check nuts on a new family member, and before going for a drive.
 
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