Can We Talk About Wheel Bearings and Grease?

[C10_ustacould]

I recently replaced my front brake rotors and wheel bearings in an effort to calm vibration. Combined with re-balancing my wheels and tires my vibration was reduced to nearly zero. After 350 miles, a slight vibration has returned. Not nearly what it was, but it is there at about 60-62 mph. I checked the front wheels and found that there is some play in both front wheel bearing; I wouldn't call it slop but more like endplay. I used Timken bearings and the part store brand grease. I did not remove the existing bearing races, but simply installed the Timken bearings and set the Timken races aside. At this point my suspicions/questions are: 1) Should I have swapped the bearing races, is it a big deal? 2) Is it possible that the wheel bearing grease is insufficient and if so is there grease that stands above the others? Let me know what you know... Thanks in advance!

[john]

Yes the new race should be used with a new bearing. New against old does not work very good with tapered brgs. Heres a link to timkin brg adjustment.

http://www.timken.com/en-us/solution...gs_English.pdf

[Rufton]

Any grease specified for wheel bearings should be fine. I like Bel-Ray.

Should change race and bearing together because they wear in together.

Wheel bearings need preload of a few inch-pounds. FWIR around 25inch pounds but best to look it up.

Pitman arm slop, idler, etc are frequent vibration suspects.

New tires mask steering linkage slop for a while.

[C10_ustacould]

One thing to add, I also made sure no balance weights were missing and that the wheels are torqued correctly.

[C10_ustacould]

Originally Posted by john

Yes the new race should be used with a new bearing. New against old does not work very good with tapered brgs. Heres a link to timkin brg adjustment.

http://www.timken.com/en-us/solution...gs_English.pdf

Originally Posted by Rufton

Any grease specified for wheel bearings should be fine. I like Bel-Ray.

Should change race and bearing together because they wear in together.

Wheel bearings need preload of a few inch-pounds. FWIR around 25inch pounds but best to look it up.

Pitman arm slop, idler, etc are frequent vibration suspects.

New tires mask steering linkage slop for a while.

I should have made this more clear, but the rotors are new, therefore the races are new, but not the races that came with the bearings. (I wish they would package them together, but that would make too much sense!) I installed the rotors per the specification, so why do I now have play?

[Rufton]

Originally Posted by john

Yes the new race should be used with a new bearing. New against old does not work very good with tapered brgs. Heres a link to timkin brg adjustment.

http://www.timken.com/en-us/solution...gs_English.pdf

Timken method is good if you can detect slight bind or measure 0.001" end play. This method works better w/ new bearings than worn in bearings. Sometimes worn in bearings can handle excess preload w/o noticeable bind.

[Rufton]

Originally Posted by BucksSS

I should have made this more clear, but the rotors are new, therefore the races are new, but not the races that came with the bearings. (I wish they would package them together, but that would make too much sense!) I installed the rotors per the specification, so why do I now have play?

Is the new race and new bearing same mfg?
I feel better using the factory matched race/bearing combo.

[tony58]

Using the races in the rotor is OK. All A3/A5 etc bearings are made to same spec.
A little loose is OK with roller bearings as opposed to tight, tight and you will loose the bearing quickly. I don't suspect any vibration to be coming from your bearings.

[cdowns]

i started using synthetic grease in most everything a few years ago

[Longhorn 70]

I too switched to Mobil1 synthetic grease. My main concern is Arizona will let the grease dry out quickly. The synth stuff seems to hold up better. It also CLAIMS better heat and water resistance.

[Rufton]

I tried Mobil 1 syn grease and was disappointed that it separated making a mess of my grease gun. I expected it would remain thick.

[Tx Firefighter]

I swapped to Belray synthetic grease a few years ago. I really believe its worth the expense and effort to find it.
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[SS Tim]

'72 service manual spec is 0.008" for bearing endplay.

[truckdude239]

I always use high temp wheel bearing grease
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