Bearing Packing 101

FLXX member Benny Davis donated the space necessary to place our tutorial on how to repack the wheel bearings of the Xterra\Frontier\Pathfinder with auto locking hubs. It is located at: http://homepage.mac.com/bennylen/readme.htm
Hopefully you will find this useful! Happy four wheeling!

Looks great! After seeing the water intrusion on those pics I better get mine done.

Hmmm...by looking at the hands in the pictures I say there are a few places to get scraped and cut. :eek:

The FLXX Bearing Repacking 101 CD is now released. I have included a photo of the CD and cover. This CD can be run in modern DVD players, IBM and Mac computers. It uses autorun so that it will automatically launch your browser and load up the programming if you have autorun configured. the cost of the CD is $8 plus $2 shipping in the coninental US. If you are interested, you may contact me at warmonger44@yahoo.com.

http://home.mpinet.net/warmongr/VideoCD.jpg

The Warmonger

Well, I just did my first bearing packing tonight following warmonger's how-to. All in all pretty good. One thing that made the job kind of nice is that the how-to was written with kind of a "worst case" slant -- meaning it would say you'll have to work hard to loosen this or unseat that but when you actually do it it's not as bad as the how-to makes you think it would be (that was my experience, anyway).

I do have one tip for those who plan to do this: the new bearing seal that has to be "tapped" into place (it's similar to pounding in a paint can lid, or, for the seal removal stage, pounding off a paint can lid) actually started bending at the rim (where i was tapping it) instead of going down into place (yes, I had the seal centered properly); luckily I noticed this quickly and my solution was to cut off the circle of rubber from the OLD bearing seal, place the old seal on top of the new seal (the rubber would have interfered here if it wasn't cut off), and pound on the old seal with the hammer. This method seated the new seal nicely without causing any damage to it.
Oh yah, one more thing: all my bearings looked nice and greasy upon removal *except* the passenger side outer bearing, which was bare to the extent that I could look through the bearing spaces and see clear through to the other side (this gap should be completely filled with grease!). Luckily the bearing showed no damage upon close inspection. I'm certainly glad I decided to get off my duff & do this maintenance job (I waited untill 36K miles, manual says 30K, & I haven't ever had the hubs under water)....
That's all folks & thanks very much Warmonger for the how-to :D.

Thanks for the compliment. I try to prepare people for a worst case scenario, although it may or may not occur every time. Some people panic when they hit a bad spot unprepared. I am glad I could be of assistance. BTW, if you tap around the seal, it should go in without bending. I have repacked mine three times using this procedure with no problems, but I am also VERY experienced thanks to living in FL and owning three previous 4WD trucks.

The Warmonger

Thanks for the update.
I will be trying to re-pack mine in the next few weeks.
I'm guessing that it will be almost the same for manual hubs (I have the Warn ones). Just the removal of the hub will be different.

Manual hub owners just have more bolts to remove.

The Warmonger

Originally posted by warmonger
Manual hub owners just have more bolts to remove.

The Warmonger


... and less parts to take out.

Thanks for the tip...
Do you guys with the warn hubs know where you get the seals for the hubs?
Or if you need new ones after you remove the dial plate?
I have had mine off a few times (trying to fix the bolts with locktight)

Thanks

Originally posted by rhombus
Thanks for the tip...
Do you guys with the warn hubs know where you get the seals for the hubs?
Or if you need new ones after you remove the dial plate?
I have had mine off a few times (trying to fix the bolts with locktight)

Thanks

I'm sure you can get the seals from Warn ... I have removed the dials a few times but haven't needed to replace the seal yet.

Originally posted by Philosopher



... and less parts to take out.

Not to mention less to blow apart when you engage the front air locker, eh? ;-)

The Warmonger

What about the rear? Is there a set of bearings there too?

Ben

Ben,

There is but they are lubed by the gear lube, no need to manually lubricate them. Just change your gear lube at appropriate intervals and you will be fine.

Originally posted by Antitree_hugger
What about the rear? Is there a set of bearings there too?

Ben

Originally posted by warmonger
Ben,

There is but they are lubed by the gear lube, no need to manually lubricate them. Just change your gear lube at appropriate intervals and you will be fine.



sweet. next question, how hard is it to do? is it a zirt point? (I think that is what they are called)

Ben

Is it possible to check the condition of the bearings without removing any parts that will need to be replaced?

I'm considering repacking the bearings before GoX, but if I don't need it, there are a whole lot of other things on my to-do list.

well, I guess you guys probably wouldn't know what Shipfitters disease is would you?

anyway, I spotted the Snap On tool truck on my way home and picked up one of these bearing packers for the unbelievable price of $14.00. They cost 31.00 anywhere else I have looked.

I'll be pulling my brake rotors off to be turned, so I'll be doing the whole wheelbearing reack at the same time too. will let you know how it goes.

Matt

Originally posted by Matt Peckham
well, I guess you guys probably wouldn't know what Shipfitters disease is would you?

anyway, I spotted the Snap On tool truck on my way home and picked up one of these bearing packers for the unbelievable price of $14.00. They cost 31.00 anywhere else I have looked.

I'll be pulling my brake rotors off to be turned, so I'll be doing the whole wheelbearing reack at the same time too. will let you know how it goes.

Matt

You mean asbestos in the lungs?

Please let me know how it turns out.

Can't be as bad as all the radar absorbing paint I sanded off my Rover last year. 14 coats of lead paint....

I guess I knocked a few years off my lifespan with that one...

this reminds me. after repacking my bearings the last time and following the ESM, there is NO WAY that you can get the lock nut tight enough with the method listed in this HOWTO. I STRONGLY recommend anyone doing this themselves to use a pin spanner socket and a torque wrench to tighten down the lock nut, not a punch. When I went to have my front end aligned a few months ago, they wouldn't do it because my bearings were too loose. I needed to repack them anyway. When I took the locknut off, they were hand tight at best. I folled the ESMs directions with preloading the bearings using a pin spanner socket and torque wrench that time and noticed that the steering was SOOOOO much tighter. So I HIGHLY recommend changing this HOWTO. I wouldn't be suprised with how loose the locknut was, that people aren't messing up their bearings after prolonged use.

The how-to was updated with that info, though it's at the end...

Brent

Where else can I get the pin spanner socket? The link for the tool in Richard's How to is dead-end.

Thanks!

Where else can I get the pin spanner socket

I think I remember about 3 different places
being mentioned in XOC.

You might also try NAPA or local auto store.
I 'think' it is a common tool.

Toy Man

98+ Isuzu Trooper, Rodeo, Amigo, and pickup; 1989+ Honda Passport; and Jeep J20 pickups with Dana 60 axle is the spec on the tool.
I've seen that particular application on the shelf at 2 stores. The one I got didn't quite fit, I had to grind down the pins a little. The other was a different brand and the pins seemed to be the right size. I just went there and they were selling it for $29, you can order it online too:
It's $27 + $6 shipping:
http://www.toolweb.com/distributortool/store.cfm?do=search
Enter OTC7698 in either search field, you'll get the correct part.

Brent

Originally posted by rrdstarr
Where else can I get the pin spanner socket? The link for the tool in Richard's How to is dead-end.

Thanks!

rick whenever you need to use it, let me know. I have a pin spanner socket and would be happy to help or loan it to you.


Originally posted by OffroadX
I just went there and they were selling it for $29, you can order it online too:
It's $27 + $6 shipping:
http://www.toolweb.com/distributortool/store.cfm?do=search
Enter OTC7698 in either search field, you'll get the correct part.

Man that is atleast $10 more expensive that what Ontool had it for. too bad ontool is gone. :(