question for those that have repacked their wheel bearings

[Synchro]

i repacked my wheel bearing last night and the grease that was in there was brownish black. it looked like someone had filled my rotor and bearings with hershey's chocolate sauce. now then, supposedly the dealership repacked them 1600 miles ago. If that were the case then the grease should not be that color or consistency correct? even if they had used the black stuff that Chris is talking about in the other thread, which i doubt cause deep in the gooey center where there are no bearings i found normal looking unused lithium grease, but in very small amounts. When i watched Dean repack his bearings this past weekend i remember seeing very light brownish grease, but it still had the buttery viscosity of grease. And if they did repack them, what would make the grease fail that fast and be that consistency. I have not been 4 wheeling at all, unfortunately, since they were supposedly repacked by the dealer. fortunately the dealer is taking my word on this and will service the tranmission and differentials as a service swap when i get back from GOX2 for free in return for this issue. any thoughts?

and for those with Warn manual hubs, after driving for a bit, are the hubs hot to the touch? if you have never checked, can you please the next time you drive and report back.

all this crap makes me VERY paranoid about driving to GOX tomorrow.

[ScottG]

It sure doesn't sound like your bearings were repacked 1600 miles ago. It is sad to think that your dealer would be so unscrupulous. If they failed to repack them, it seems like it would have to have been intentional. They may have just said to themselves "the hell with it, he'll never know the difference."

[OffroadX]

If they weren't, I think Synchro will be putting Rosenthal on his shit list just like Mobycat did.

Brent

[Chris_McCracken]

My guess is it depends what kind of driving you were doing. According to Warmonger's HOWTO, the darkening of the grease is due to water fouling it. Have you done any water crossings or mud bogging since you had them packed? I would assume its the same as anything on your truck, the harder you treat it, the faster it wears out. My [old] grease was Hershey looking, too, except in the groove in the rotor core, where it looked new, but I have 10k miles since mine were packed (at the factory).

[ned946]

I bet they just pumped some grease in there and closed it up. Doesn't sound right unless you've been doing some hard core stuff lately

[xoc]

Originally posted by Synchro
and for those with Warn manual hubs, after driving for a bit, are the hubs hot to the touch?(

Yes, quite warm. Grease and bearings everywhere, but heat and friction will still get anywhere on the drivetrain.

[Synchro]

unfortunately i have done no offroading for the past 1600 miles :-( so that is not it.

when we repacked Dean, Mehdi's and Gary's this past weekend Dean's is the one i saw and atleast his had a vague whipped buttery viscosity that grease should have even though it was black. this stuff on mine was like hershey chocolate sauce mixed with VERY used motor oil. slimy and quite viscous. If they did repack them, they should claim they didn't just to save face on a crappy job. Anyhow, when i get back from GOX2 they are going to do a swap on all the fluids in the truck in replacement.

and of course when i sit down this evening to do the passenger side not only do i drop the brake housing and the pads slip out but it begins to rain. FUCK!!!!

[Synchro]

ok, am all finished. both bearings are repacked and ready to go. i was not able to get the splined washer onto the axel with the snap ring on the drivers side. without the washer, i could get the snapring on, but not both for some reason. anyhow, i figure a snapring is better than nothing, like i had it before.

and woudn't you know it, it is always something, when test driving it, i hear the sounds of lugs rubbing to solid piece. would you know it, i have the same rubbing that gothamist has, on that damn front torsion bar anchor. that and i have a funny sqeak up front now. <shrug> I did notices that my steering stops are prety much down to bare metal, so that may explain the squeak. it is always something.

[Schludwiller]

This is why I didn't attempt to put in my 3" lift days before GoX. It was hard enough getting the wiring and bumper done in time. Last thing I needed was any mechanical problems.

Hope you make it!

[gothamist]

Originally posted by Synchro
would you know it, i have the same rubbing that gothamist has, on that damn front torsion bar anchor. that and i have a funny sqeak up front now. <shrug> I did notices that my steering stops are prety much down to bare metal, so that may explain the squeak. it is always something.

That sucks man, I'm sorry. If you want/need a quick fix, grab a stack of M12 or M14 washers from Lowes, get a 24mm wrench (same size as you used on the steering knuckle, 7/8" will also work) and pop the washers on the steering stops. Honestly though, I'd just remember not to hit full lock w/ the steering wheel...that's what I've been doing so far. With the exception of parallel parking I don't mind...(btw, I did put one washer on each steering stop, but it wasn't enough...so you'll probably need two or three.)

BTW, is that what you called me about? Unfortunately I had the ringer turned down on my cell phone (duh, idiot me) and was outside working on my X, so I didn't hear it ring. Sorry.

p.s. Funny squeak may be the upper a-arm bolts, try soaking them in silicone (not WD-40 or Liquid Wrench, though, not sure if they are good for the rubber/poly bushings.) That solved my problem for the most part.

Good luck!

[warmonger]

If it is the washer I think it is, that may be a bad thing. If the washer doesn't go on, it has two screws that lock into the nut to prevent it from backing out. If it won't go in then the rotor is not seated correctly. That would be bad. On my X with MM manual hubs, the nut goes on, the washer screws in place, then the main body of the hub, then the snapring, then the hub outer. The only splined washer I know of on mine is the inner lock washer. Please tell me this isn't what you left off?

Originally posted by Synchro
ok, am all finished. both bearings are repacked and ready to go. i was not able to get the splined washer onto the axel with the snap ring on the drivers side. without the washer, i could get the snapring on, but not both for some reason. anyhow, i figure a snapring is better than nothing, like i had it before.

[Synchro]

this is the washer that was originally part of the automatic hub. it sounds like the washer you are talking about is the one that goes on just after the locking screw that site up against the bearing. the one that has all the holes in it and you put the 2 tiny screws through and tighten down. the washer i am missing on that side goes on after the hub is already on there and is held on my the snap ring.

so for example it would go, rotor assembly with rear bearing and seal installed, front bearing, lock nut, locking washer, 2 screws, hub assembly, 6 screws to hold hub on, splined washer, snap ring, cap and dial assembly, 6 screws to hold that on. in that list it is the splined washer i am missing. it was off my maybe 2 milimeters, so i could no get it on there.

[Synchro]

Originally posted by Schludwiller
This is why I didn't attempt to put in my 3" lift days before GoX. It was hard enough getting the wiring and bumper done in time. Last thing I needed was any mechanical problems.

Hope you make it!

well i wasn't anticipating repacking my bearings the day before leaving. but when i found out the dealer hadn't done it and it was as bad as it was, i didn't want to put 5500 miles on bearings with bad grease. so i had to do something.

[OffroadX]

War,

I posted a diagram of the factory hub assembly in the "Important information for..." thread. You can see the splined washer in question there.

Brent

[Schludwiller]

Originally posted by Synchro


well i wasn't anticipating repacking my bearings the day before leaving. but when i found out the dealer hadn't done it and it was as bad as it was, i didn't want to put 5500 miles on bearings with bad grease. so i had to do something.

Yeah that sucks. I know you have to take care of something like that. Seems like the dealer should have been busting someones ass and fixing your truck.