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prkaye

Well Known Member
Is it ok to leave my wheel bearings in a jar of Varsol (trademark paint thinner that contains mineral spirits and i'm not sure what else) for several hours?
 
Just grease them...

I used to clean them with solvent, then blow dry and grease, but now I simple skip the solvent step and grease them. I use one of the bearing packer tools that you push down on it and it pushes grease up into the bearing. You can see the dirty grease come out of the bearing. I wipe away the old grease and move on the the next step.
 
If you clean a bearing with solvent....

I know it's been said thousands of times before, but it bears repeating;
NEVER spin a bearing to clear out the solvent. This will cause more wear in a few seconds than a lifetime of service.

Best procedure is as Jimd says. Let the new grease push out the old.
 
you are right mel. It still amazes me the number of people that do not know the proper way to pack a bearing. Ive seen way to many people just rub some grease on them. It amazes them when you show them how much grease goes in when you properly pack them.

bob burns

RV-4 N82RB
 
Somebody mentioned this earlier on another thread, but there's a good mini-video on EAA's webinar website about packing bearings. They might not have been as adamant about NOT using solvent as a few posts here have been, but otherwise it was a helpful introduction. Learned enough that I'm going to start packing my camper trailer bearings rather than paying $70 to do them every couple years!:D
 
What Jerry said, been using one of these for a lot of years.

2
 
bearings

I completely understand and accept both methods of re-packing or greasing wheel bearings. I've used both, but prefer to clean the wheel bearings in mineral spirits and then wash them with a grease cutting detergent. I then blow them dry with compressed air (no spinning), lay them on a paper shop rag for a couple of hours with a paper shop rag over them. I then re-pack them with new grease. I've never understood why the wheel bearings have to be re-packed with clean grease every year at inspection. They are sealed very well, hardly ever exposed to water, and probably have less than 100 miles on them in a years time. Automobiles will go thousands and thousands of miles without being re-packed and they are subjected to much greater stress than airplanes see. Oh well......better to be safe than sorry. Sure don't want one of them to freeze up on takeoff or landing.
 
DEWATSON said:
I've never understood why the wheel bearings have to be re-packed with clean grease every year at inspection. They are sealed very well, hardly ever exposed to water, and probably have less than 100 miles on them in a years time.
Click to expand...

Wonder what Mike Busch would say about this???

IRAN maybe???
 
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