bad hub??? HELP!

[shelby987]

OK, i need to get my truck back on the road this weekend.....the reason is a long story, but here is my issue a couple of weeks ago my truck started making noise from what sounded like bad wheel bearings, so I decided to park the truck until I could get around to pulling off the hubs and replacing the wheel bearings. Well, I finally got the time, pulled off the hubs, all the bearings appear to be in relatively good shape....but I decided to clean everything up just the same. When I cleaned off the inside of the right hub, I found what appears to be pitting of some sort, its about the size of a dime. There don't appear to be any sharp edges, though i wouldn't imagine there would be, and there also doesn't seem to be any galling at all, past the perimeter of the pitting. My question is this, can I use this hub? This is the machined surface that the bearing itself rolls over, there is no cage that fits against this surface.
If I can't can anyone point me to a place that might have a hub for a 70 d44hd front axle? (drum front 3/4t axle).
Also, what grease should I be using to reassemble these....is synthetic the way to go with michigans colder weather? I know there is specific grease for drum brakes vs. discs, and I wanted to make sure synthetic would still work ok.
ok, to make matters worse, I can't upload the picture because its too large....can someone please help me? If I try to resize it, its still to big, and if I change the format the board says dimensionally I can't upload.....AHHHH

[special-K]

I want to be sure I understand.Are you refering to the race?Is it the machined concave(like chrome surface that the balls roll against that is in the drum?If it is,thats the other half of your bearing.Although it will be sold seperately,they should be changed together always.This will cause a rumbley sound with the wheel lifted and the tire spun.I use EP grease on all wheel bearings.From the back side there will be a little edge you can drive against with a drift punch in a 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock to 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock pattern a little bit at a time so as to not bind it.Tap the new one in the same way,jist stay off the wear surface.It`s the higher quality that you need for discs and exceeds what drum brakes require(EP grease).

[shelby987]

when I purchased new bearings, I bought new inner and outter, the outter actually came with a race.....but the hubs I pulled apart didn't have a race in place.....its just two sets of tapered bearings riding on the machined surfaces in the hub.
The pitting is on the surface that the inner bearing will ride on.....if someone could help with the pic. it might help a bit.

ok, got it to load

[shelby987]

would I be able to use JB weld to fix this? Was thinking maybe I could put it in there....and use a honing tool to smooth it?
what would have caused this?

[krue]

You sure that doesn't come out of the hub? Most bearings have a replaceable race. I don't think I would try jb weld.

[Paul72]

The damage is on the bearing cup. There is no way to fix it short of replacing it. Anything you try (JB weld, etc) will work it's way out and get into the rollers and grease, causing more problems. Bearing cup/cones are hardened steel, so a welding repair would be out of the question too.

The spalling probably started with a little dirt and eventually worked to a larger area of damage.

If it's an absolute emergency to get on the road, you could put it together as is - it will make noise and the damage will eventually get worse. The best thing to do is replace the bearing (cup and cone as a set).

Paul

[shelby987]

ok, did I miss something really simple here, is this something I can pull out of the hub? Is there a way to pry this bearing cup out, or is this a machined surface on the hub itself?
Also, I guess worst case scenario, if the hub is truely toast, I will have to replace it anyway, so I might end up putting it back together tonight with the old bearings regreased, I read a post regarding preloading the bearings, does that apply here, or do I just torque the axle nut down as tight as I can (no castle nut or cotter pin on this assembly)
Thanks for all the quick responses

[krue]

That part should be removable. Bearing races are designed to be replaced in most cases. You may have to tap it out of the hub (tap not beat). See special K's post above.

[shelby987]

I am gonna feel awfully foolish if that comes out!
any info regarding preload on these things?

[krue]

No info on preload, I would just go by feel, but I'm no mechanic either.

[special-K]

I explained what to do in the above post.

[4x4Poet]

Originally Posted by shelby987

when I purchased new bearings, I bought new inner and outter, the outter actually came with a race.....but the hubs I pulled apart didn't have a race in place.....its just two sets of tapered bearings riding on the machined surfaces in the hub.
The pitting is on the surface that the inner bearing will ride on....

That "machine surface" you refer to is, indeed, the removeable race, also called a cup (see posts above). If you turn the hub over, you'll see the backside of the race sticking out from the cast hub body with its part numbers partially visible. That's where you can place a drift punch to drive it out by moving the punch around the edges as you hammer to get it come out straight as opposed to cockeyed. Any long, steel, flat-tipped punch will do to drive out both races.

But use a brass punch to drive them back in since the brass won't scratch the steel machined surface that the bearings ride upon. I used a board members suggestion recently and drove the new races in by placing an old race fat bottom against the thin top of each new race so I could hit the old race around in a circle to drive in the new even without jamming to one side or letting the hammer come close to the new race. Finish with a brass punch once the old race hits the edge of the hub. You're done when each race is completely seated in the hub against the flanged stopping point. Besure to clean the hub well after race removal so each new race can seat completely. Patience is mandatory.

Also take the good advice above and replace both bearings and both races. BTW, I've found that a bearing sales store has better prices than auto parts stores on seals and bearings by at least %20. Don't forget to replace the hub seal after you've seated both races and placed the rear, grease-packed bearing inside the rear of the hub. (I've forgot. ). Maybe you'll save some $$ to make this thread even more worthwhile.

Definitely go with a good synthetic grease to help your new bearings last longer. I don't think you have to use a disc brake grease, but I also expect all synthetic greases are made to handle disc brake temps. Good for cold weather, as you discerned.

If you have a service manual, it gives some pretty good instructions. Like to fill the hub cavity between the bearings with grease to the level of the inside of the bearings to every degree point (360º). Or to pack the bearings well with grease (several ways to do this). And wheel nut torque values. Once you've got the job done, check the other side while you have the procedure fresh in mind. You might catch some more damage early. Even if no damage is found, I'd at least repack the other side (with a new hub seal) so I could keep the mileage on when to repack hubs again the same for both front hubs.

Feel free to ask any procedural questions again here no matter how elementary you might think they are. There is actually quite a bit to consider on the procedure to do it right. I and other board members have done it before and have the service manual to check with as needed (mine are '71 &'72). Hub maintenance is one of the best money saving procedures to learn. It's easy and can be done with hand tools. Enjoy...

[shelby987]

I did end up replacing both the inner and outter races and bearings on both hubs.....I figured i only wanted to do this once.....unfortunately I didn't have internet access at home this weekend, so I missed the tid bit about the brass punch....I put the slightest scuff on one of the inner races......could hardly see it with the eye, and I couldn't feel it with my finger nail....am I screwed? I did end up using a bearing packer, it was a pain, but it filled the bearings nicely, then I packed again by hand, filled the void in between with additional bearing grease, and yes, I opted for the full synthetic......it gets pretty cold around here.
just for a note, for anyone else....the other bearings looked ok, but there were 3 different kinds of races in those hubs, and the grease ranged from black, to brown, to something that looked like vasoline, so I opted to just replace them all.

[4x4Poet]

Since bearings and cups are usually bought together using the same brand, it sounds like POs replaced bearings without replacing the bearing cups. Or they swapped bearings side to side during a repack which would mismatch bearings to the races with regards to wear. Probably happens all too often with these old trucks since, as you know, pounding out/in cups is a hassle. Some people are cheap, too, and don't care if they do it right.

On the race "scratch", I couldn't tell you. I've never scratched one to find out the hard way. Someone else will chime in with some expertise on that.