Milky grease in Bearings
Submitted by Jackfrost80 on Sun, 2019-12-29 14:50
Was due to take the boat to Mandurah and checked the hubs and one of them has milky grease after having done them in Sep. Thinking it's time to replace the 5y old bearing buddies.
Decided to leave it at home as I didn't have time to put my spare hub on but should I replace the bearings or repack them?
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Officially off the Pies bandwagon
dmck
Posts: 442
Date Joined: 07/03/19
depends on....
the condition of the bearings once you get them out and thoroughly clean them....
I wouldnt be worried about the 5 y.o. bearing buddies...... but I reckon your seals have to be replaced.
If in doubt, replace the bearings, they are not expensive compared to losing a wheel!
Belly Fish
Posts: 499
Date Joined: 09/03/12
Hot
Sounds like the bearing got hot and cooked the grease. I noticed that once when I over tightened the castle but. Cooked the grease in 200 kms
Jackfrost80
Posts: 8144
Date Joined: 07/05/12
Cheers lads. For $30 I'll
Cheers lads. For $30 I'll replace them as I'll need a new seal regardless. I'm thinking I may have overpacked the hubs thinking back
Officially off the Pies bandwagon
ranmar850
Posts: 2702
Date Joined: 12/08/12
if you have marine seals you cannot overpack, really
The marine seals rely on having grease between the lips on the seal--a little fresh grease should be visible on the outside. The only effect of overgreasing is to have gobs of grease on your brakes/inside of your wheels. Don't listen to those who tell you you can "overpack" roller bearings--silly old farts tale, faithfully handed down from father to son in some families, it seems. The bearing buddies are there to keep grease forced against the rear seal, allowing it to work. And always use those rubber caps on the outside-they will largely protect the outer bearing from water intrusion if they are full of grease. The seals keep it out of the inner bearings, as long as the seals are full of grease. They work differently to conventional seals.
ranmar850
Posts: 2702
Date Joined: 12/08/12
Milky grease is water emulsified
Which usually means the bearing will be stuffed. I'd just replace them--little more effort than removing, cleaning, and repacking. Only difference is needing to drive the old cones out and hammer new ones in. Best value for money I've found in recent times is Timkens from Statewide Bearings, believe it or not--I bought a set of four ( Ford), with marine seals, for under $80. Cheaper than the packaged ones from BCF.
If you insist on trying to assess whether you can re-use them, first thing to do is to jack up and spin the wheel, with no brakes fitted. You need to listen--a good bearing has only the faintest type of hissing sound. Bad ones willl rumble, it is a very distinctive sound. Any noise like that, scrap them. Grab the top and bottom of the wheel and try to rock it. There should be no rock in them, although this is only adjustment if the bearing is still good. If they sound good, they will probably look good, but you need to clean the cones and look for radial marks. They look like a stripe running across the surface of the cone. These are caused by water sitting there between the cone and the rollers. Very obvious. If they have these, you would likely have heard a rumble when you spun them up anyway.
if you are going to replace them, you need to drive the old cones out with a big punch or even a cold chisel. Take the old cones you have driven out and grind down the outside circumference until they fit easliy into where they came out from--you will use these to drive the new ones on, chuck them in your tool box when you are done for next time.
And yes, replace the seals each time--ONLY use marine type seals.
camzak
Posts: 32
Date Joined: 08/05/09
Ranmar is spot on
White grease is emulsified with water, dont risk your wheel overtaking you at 100km for $20 and a bit of labour
Camzak
holth
Posts: 812
Date Joined: 09/10/06
Bearing buddies and marine
Bearing buddies and marine seals dont go together.
A well sealed cap will be water proof and will last till the next bearing change. A bead of sika after cap is put on will keep water out.
Ian S
Posts: 71
Date Joined: 20/01/14
Marine seals
If this is the type of seal that you are referring to: https://www.couplemate.com.au/bearing-kits/bearing-seals/slimline-marine-sl-seal then they are exactely what Bearing Buddies are made to work with and they actually do a very good job. The advantage of this type of seal is that the two wearing surfaces are replaced when you renew the seal.
The easiest way to check the condition of bearings is to wash the cup and cone with petrol and dry them to remove any trace of grease or oiliness then press the two parts together with a little bit of hand pressure and rotate them, if they turn smoothly they are fine, if they feel like they have sand in them chuck them out, with the cost of replacement bearings so low if you are in doubt just replace them.
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18026
Date Joined: 11/03/08
im with Holth on just the
im with Holth on just the cap. had many probs with buddies and stopped using them on reccommendation from a mechanic and had no probs since
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
Jackalchub
Posts: 599
Date Joined: 10/03/12
+1 for caps.. had nothing
+1 for caps.. had nothing but issues with bearing buddies
uncle
Posts: 9474
Date Joined: 10/02/07
Only ever used
Caps over 30 odd years.
all aggressive fish love bigjohnsjigs
Jackfrost80
Posts: 8144
Date Joined: 07/05/12
Cheers all. I think I found
Cheers all. I think I found the culprit for the water ingress which was a dirty/gritty axle where the seal sits. I gave it a wipe down but not a degrease when I did them so lesson learned there.
On a lighter note, my dad, son and I did about 2km worth of wading at lsland Point around dusk and only managed about half a dozen undersize crabs each but having three generations all out there giving it a crack was worth the effort.
Officially off the Pies bandwagon
ranmar850
Posts: 2702
Date Joined: 12/08/12
people have "issues" with bearing buddies?
Assuming you mean problems with them, what are the problems? The only problems i've ever had were losing them on badly corrugated roads, as they are obviously heavier than a cap. I took to fitting caps for those trips, but lost some of them, too. Then I got onto dimpling the mating surface, half dozen punches around the circumference, never lost one since. Pump them full every four or five local laiunches, or at the end of a long trip away, use the supplied rubber caps, marine seals, never, ever get water in. Or have them fail. I'm towing pretty heavy nowadays, too, still on Ford Slimlines on a rig that is sually 2.5 tonne.
carnarvonite
Posts: 8668
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Caps
Another one for caps, seen too many bearing buddies missing either by falling off or by too much grease being pumped in and once it warms up and swells off it comes.
Even when towing dinghies every day while pro salmon fishing we never had trouble with bearings or losing caps if done properly and not too much grease added when servicing at end of a 5 month season where we would be on a beach 7 days a week.
Shark1
Posts: 1086
Date Joined: 21/05/12
will never use bearing
will never use bearing buddies again -the end
keg
Posts: 398
Date Joined: 17/07/07
too much grease
bearings don`t like to run in too much grease. it can make them run hot especially on a long trip.
normal caps and marine grade seals are the way to go. once you pack your bearings and put the caps
on you should never have to touch them until your next yearly service