Anyone Ever Grease A Modular Wheel Hub Assembly?

[Roky]

Some things, the juice is not worth the squeeze, and for me this is one of them…… I’ll just replace when time comes. I’m all for a good hack, but I’ll pass on this one……..

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[roaniecowpony]

Some things, the juice is not worth the squeeze, and for me this is one of them…… I’ll just replace when time comes. I’m all for a good hack, but I’ll pass on this one……..

Seems easy enough to do when doing the brakes, balljoints, axles, etc..

 

[Roky]

Seems easy enough to do when doing the brakes, balljoints, axles, etc..

Yeah, I get it, just don’t seem right forcing grease into a sealed bearing, upsetting the apple cart in my mind, probably fine, but I’m choosing not to do it…..

 

[gsbrockman]

Yeah, I get it, just don’t seem right forcing grease into a sealed bearing, upsetting the apple cart in my mind, probably fine, but I’m choosing not to do it…..

What do you perceive is going to be damaging in nature by adding grease into a unit bearing?

 

[Roky]

What do you perceive is going to be damaging in nature by adding grease into a unit bearing?

I don’t have a specific reason, just doesn’t seem right to me that’s all… how do you know if it needs to be greased, if you wait until you hear it, or feel it in the steering wheel then it’s likely to late, grease isn’t gonna help. What if it’s got grease in there, now you’re trying to force more grease in there, kinda like a 10 lbs of shit in a 5 lb bag scenario, lol…… I can’t give you a good answer, I’m just saying I’m not gonna do it…..Hell…. They’re a 80k-100k lifespan on a normal use rig, and you can do both wheels for under 250.00…….. I don’t know man, that’s all I got……?‍

 

[gsbrockman]

If a person approached it with a preventative maintenance mindset.....I’d say give’em a few squirts every 30k miles or so.

Using a syringe or a smaller type of hand-held grease gun (like for use on a cardan joint) wouldn’t cause any kind of overfilling issues (kinda hard to overfill a unit bearing) .

 

[firedude]

I did this on my 2010 Dodge 3/4. its lifted of course with wheels and tires (37’s). That design would take some grease. Saw a cutaway someone had done and there was no grease on a fairly low mileage bearing. Pretty easy to do so i thought what the hell. Been lots of towing miles put on it.
Im sure I just jinxed myself here.

 

[gsbrockman]

I did this on my 2010 Dodge 3/4. its lifted of course with wheels and tires (37’s). That design would take some grease. Saw a cutaway someone had done and there was no grease on a fairly low mileage bearing. Pretty easy to do so i thought what the hell. Been lots of towing miles put on it.
Im sure I just jinxed myself here.

Are you one and the same over on CF?

 

[firedude]

Are you one and the same over on CF?

Yep. That's where I got it.

 

[roaniecowpony]

Almost every vehicle I owned or worked on before 1999, I had to grease the wheel bearings periodically, the old fashioned way. You had to pull the drum or disk by removing the spindle nut that preloaded the bearings, then remove the seal from the rear of the drum/disk and take out the rear bearing. The smaller front bearing would come out without a seal, just had remove the hub cap.

The point is, it is just a maintenance item that was done when brakes and other work was done.

 

[CarbonSteel]

What do you perceive is going to be damaging in nature by adding grease into a unit bearing?

I just replaced mine and I am almost positive the bearings in the Mopar units are sealed on both sides, ergo, you are not greasing the bearing itself, merely pumping grease into the open area between the bearings.

The other thing to consider IF it was possible to grease them is compatibility of the grease you are adding versus what is in the bearing which if not compatible can lead to bearing failure.

 

[roaniecowpony]

I just replaced mine and I am almost positive the bearings in the Mopar units are sealed on both sides, ergo, you are not greasing the bearing itself, merely pumping grease into the open area between the bearings.

The other thing to consider IF it was possible to grease them is compatibility of the grease you are adding versus what is in the bearing which if not compatible can lead to bearing failure.

Looking at my new Moog hub for the truck, the encoder is surrounded by grease, same grease that is around the external seals, indicating its sharing the cavity with the bearings.

As for grease compatibility, yes it's a concern. I worked a high profile airplane accident where grease compatibility was initially implicated. I learned more about grease compatibility than I ever imagined.

 

[gsbrockman]

I just replaced mine and I am almost positive the bearings in the Mopar units are sealed on both sides, ergo, you are not greasing the bearing itself, merely pumping grease into the open area between the bearings.

The other thing to consider IF it was possible to grease them is compatibility of the grease you are adding versus what is in the bearing which if not compatible can lead to bearing failure.

If you still have your old bearings....it would be interesting to know if you could disassemble them and either prove or disprove your above theory.

As to the grease compatibility.....every unit bearing I have replaced, the new bearing assembly had blue grease in it, as seen in post #7. Almost all CV joints have a blue color grease in them as well.

In any event....IMO....any grease in a unit bearing is better than no grease or hardened grease in a unit bearing.

 

[CarbonSteel]

If you still have your old bearings....it would be interesting to know if you could disassemble them and either prove or disprove your above theory.

As to the grease compatibility.....every unit bearing I have replaced, the new bearing assembly had blue grease in it, as seen in post #7. Almost all CV joints have a blue color grease in them as well.

In any event....IMO....any grease in a unit bearing is better than no grease or hardened grease in a unit bearing.

They would have to be pressed apart and I have saved them as spares so I won't be able to do that. However, the new ones had no visible grease and thus I added a dab of di-electric grease to help seal the sensor.

Incompatible grease would not be a good idea and as expected, color rarely gives much of a clue as to type so it would be somewhat of a crap shoot.

EDIT - unless the seals are leaking, is the idea to simply "overfill" it? Would that result in a "pressure" issue for the seals since the sensor is bolted in?

 

[roaniecowpony]

IIRC "liquification" is the biggest concern our grease expert had about compatibility. If it liquifies, it isn't grease any longer. This is usually where greases with two different thickeners are mixed. Lithium based thickeners were/are the most common in automotive. The base oil can also cause incompatibility in its lubrication qualities. Then there's the additive package.

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