Replacing wheel bearings and races

[Mark N.]

I am about to repack my wheel bearings. I started wondering about the time spent cleaning and inspection of those bearings, and now I'm wondering how much to just replace the factory Chinese bearings for some Timken bearings. Has anyone made this swap and remember what is cost per wheel to replace bearings and races?
It's got to be worth something to me in paper towels, solvent, elbow grease, cleaning time and clean up time.

[andylparish]

You will still have the cleanup, unless you replace the whole axle! And you will have to pack the new bearings.

[mlh]

I agree get rid of the original bearings if they are Chinese and get good bearings.
Lynwood

[Mark N.]

quote:Originally posted by andylparish

You will still have the cleanup, unless you replace the whole axle! And you will have to pack the new bearings.

Yeah, but it's really quick and easy to spray out the hub with brake cleaner then wipe it down. I'm not going to get crazy about removing every single trace of old grease, just the most of it. Packing the new bearings is about 6 pumps of the grease gun after the hubs are dropped in the Harbor Freight bearing packer. I love that thing!

[rohrmann]

Just did that, replaced the bearings and races with all USA made Timken's. I purchased through Amazon, got 4 25580 bearings @ $12.40 each, 4 25520 races @ $7.98 each, 4 14125A bearings @ $12.93 each, 4 14276 races @ $6.67 each, and also purchased a couple 16 oz tubs of Timken wheel bearing grease @ $9.69 each. Total for order, parts and sales tax, free shipping, was $193.62. I already carry the tools to remove the races and drive new ones in, (brass rod and ball peen hammer), and two hands to pack the bearings with grease. Takes a little less than a tub of grease to pack all the bearings and install with some extra grease on the races. After losing several brake assemblies a few years ago after following the E-Z-Lube instructions to the letter, and still ended up with grease leaked past the seals, I found it to be much less expensive to manually pack the bearings by hand, and a lot less messy too.

[andylparish]

You will still have the cleanup, unless you replace the whole axle! And you will have to pack the new bearings.

[rohrmann]

Yes, you will get dirty and possibly greasy, but you will have the satisfaction knowing you have high quality bearings greased properly, and installed correctly, and also know that the brakes are ready for another season of travel. You won't be worrying if the underpaid kid in the shop actually packed the bearings with the correct grease and reinstalled everything and adjusted the bearings correctly. The ability to do this kind of maintenance is a gift, either taught by Dad or some other relative, or learned in school or a shop setting, and is a whole lot cheaper than having it done by some shop, and a lot of the time, much quicker too.

[Mark N.]

quote:Originally posted by rohrmann

Yes, you will get dirty and possibly greasy, but you will have the satisfaction knowing you have high quality bearings greased properly, and installed correctly, and also know that the brakes are ready for another season of travel. You won't be worrying if the underpaid kid in the shop actually packed the bearings with the correct grease and reinstalled everything and adjusted the bearings correctly. The ability to do this kind of maintenance is a gift, either taught by Dad or some other relative, or learned in school or a shop setting, and is a whole lot cheaper than having it done by some shop, and a lot of the time, much quicker too.

Being retired means I can work on it at my schedule too! I can take 5 days to work on it if I choose. Or 7. Or 10!
The trick is not to procrastinate and wait until 2 days before I need the trailer ready for a trip.

[dieselguy]

All this is doable and really not that hard. Don't assume new bearings are clean ... wash them up and pack them. Just be darned sure you are confident with the part about bearing race removal and installation. Get the right tools for the job ... some auto parts stores rent the race installers. Don't try using just a brass or aluminum drift to beat them back in and be sure they are fully seated. Don't use the old bearings to beat/press them back in ... it'll put microscopic dents in the race. Made in USA won't fix a bad installation. Sadly we send most of our good steel to China/Japan they send us back the scruffy stuff to make our made in the USA products. We just can't win.

[Mark N.]

quote:Originally posted by dieselguy

All this is doable and really not that hard. Don't assume new bearings are clean ... wash them up and pack them. Just be darned sure you are confident with the part about bearing race removal and installation. Get the right tools for the job ... some auto parts stores rent the race installers. Don't try using just a brass or aluminum drift to beat them back in and be sure they are fully seated. Don't use the old bearings to beat/press them back in ... it'll put microscopic dents in the race. Made in USA won't fix a bad installation. Sadly we send most of our good steel to China/Japan they send us back the scruffy stuff to make our made in the USA products. We just can't win.

A "race installer"? I remember that being an aluminum disc that covers the race fully and a driver thingy in the middle of that which you beat on? I haven't ever used one, but for as often as I would need one, a rental would be a good way to gert one for a few hours.

[Mark N.]

UPDATE: So, I went and bought 1 gal. of Coleman camp fuel (white gas) it was about $13.00 for a gal., but that will last for a long, long, time. I also bought a 1 qt. metal paint can at Home Depot.
After removing the bearings, and wiping them clean with paper towels, I dropped them in the can with about 2 cups of the white gas. Put the lid on, and swirl for a couple of minutes. Remove them (they are about 98% grease free at this point) and give them a final spray-off with brake cleaner. Inspect them thoroughly, every surface, inside and out, let them dry for a couple minutes and drop them in the bearing packer. 8 or 10 quick pumps of the grease gun, and ready to reinstall again. Put the lid on the can tightly, and put it away until next year. Very, very little clean up. The paper towels get dropped into a garbage as I use them. The bearing packer gets a wipe-down and put away.