repack bearings

[nyc #1 ironman]

The dealer and my local tire/brakes guy tells me the bearings don't need to be repacked because they are sealed, but most members of he board advise that they be. Please advise if u know for sure? thanks again, george

[Tone]

Price a new spindle and decide whether it is worth the risk or not. Yes, the bearings have seals but they are NOT sealed bearings in the true sense. And repacking is not only about lubricating them but also and more importantly, removing the play that occurs as a result of wear. Dealers and many mechanics are stupid as indicated by what they told you - refer to the manua, VX Workshop CD, common sense and what people on these boards do to extend the life of their vehicles.

[nyc #1 ironman]

Tone ,
Your word is was and always will be as good as gold, thanks buddy ! I will have them repacked,,

[ScottinMA]

The dealer and my local tire/brakes guy tells me the bearings don't need to be repacked because they are sealed, but most members of he board advise that they be. Please advise if u know for sure? thanks again, george

Hi, I did the front hubs at 30K. There was a significant amount of rust within and a thorough cleaning and repacking was performed. I bought mine new and I was truly surprised to see the condition as my VX has been used almost entirely on the street.

Scott

[kpaske]

Mine haven't been repacked in forever and I'm sure they are way overdue. I was thinking about doing them myself using the HOWTO that someone posted not too long ago. Is this a long involved job that an only moderately experienced person such as myself might not want to tackle? How does the cost of a shop repacking them compare to purchasing new bearings and installing them myself?

[thebear54]

Any old time mechanic will tell you to repack the bearings...the new ones will tell you "oh they are sealed don't worry about repacking"
Sealed does not mean impervious...grease breaks down with heat,metal expands and contracts and before you know it..dirt and rust on the spindles followed by major repair bills.
I don't care how "sealed" a bearing is it still needs grease and maintanance..
REPACK AWAY GEORGE.
I'ts a simple operation doesn't take more than an afternoon to do. But do it by hand don't use those fancy grease injection gimmicks...they don't work!
John

[VX4EJR]

The VX service maintenance schedule thing says to repack front bearings, does not mention the rear.

Reading these posts, then should the rear be done too or what? I was under the impression the rear was sealed off and did not need to be serviced. The front however is not under the same conditions. :confused:

[driver3]

The rear bearings are actually sealed... you can't repack them. Now if the seal blows you need to get into the dealer and have them take care of it as you'll lose all your diff fluid if it gets bad enough. They are however covered by the powertrain warranty as are the front bearings. If you remove a rear disc, which is easy, you can see if they are ok, other than that you can check for grease around the back of the disc. My parking brake wasn't working and it turned out all the innerworkings of the drum were completely greased.

Once you have repacked your front bearings on your own, it's easy to do it the second time... it's worth doing yourself if you plan on keeping with the every 15k rule.

[VX4EJR]

Anyone know how many tubes of grease would be needed for the repack if you were to go out and buy that yourself?

[Green Dragon]

A little help

http://www.planetisuzu.com/articles.htm/56

[VX4EJR]

A little help

http://www.planetisuzu.com/articles.htm/56


Thanks, but that article doesn't say.
:(

[psychos2]

1 of the big tubes is plenty. probably enough to do it twice. shawn

[Jolly Roger VX'er]

A little help

http://www.planetisuzu.com/articles.htm/56


I'm gathering up what I need to do this exercise in repacking the front bearings and I hit a small snag while ordering the parts....

I ordered (2) front grease seals for the bearings.
I ordered (2) 26mm snap rings.
I ordered (1) Isuzu axle nut tool #J-36827.
I bought (6) Machine screw flat phillips 4mm X 8mm.

Got Grease & etc...

Now for what I can't find: 2 Hub Flange/Bearing Cover gaskets
The dealerships parts list and exploded view of hub doesn't show these.
I was wondering if these are for the Superwinch Manual Hub setup used in the article instead of our stock setup??

If we need these...I need (1) per side..correct? Part #???

Thanks in advance!

[Rooster]

BTW, here's a mechanic's tip on repacking the actual bearings. Either do it by hand (Cupped palm method) or remove all the old grease and place teh bearing in a ziploc freezer bag with new greash and squish away!

Just an FYI...

[Jolly Roger VX'er]

Anybody have the part # for the Hub Flange/Bearing Cover gaskets?

I did a search on repacking bearings and hub flange gaskets and came up empty. Also searched VMAG.

[kpaske]

...Once you have removed the Superwinch hubs (or hub covers for those of you who do not have manual hubs), take a rag and wipe away any grease that you see on the end of the axle shaft...

...Install the gaskets for the "hub/bearing cover/hub flange" (I used RTV silicone/gasket maker). Reinstall the "hub/bearing cover/hub flange"...

My interpretation is that the Superwinch hubs as well as the stock hub covers are sealed with a gasket. Apparently he couldn't find the part either because he used RTV instead.

Let us know how this job works out for you and any tips you have. I need to do mine very soon also!

[Ron Pfeiffer]

That gasket referred to in the planetisuzu post is not a part we have - I think its for the superwinch hubs only.
My neighbor was recently kind enough to lend his garage and a set of helping hands to do this. It took about 3 hours total and was easy as pie. We used about 1/2 of a tube of grease.
thebear54 was right - hand packed is the way to go. Put some grease in your open palm, and hold the bearing ring in your other hand. Push the outer face of the ring into the grease blob in your hand, and repeat until the grease is forced all the way through, coming out the inner face of the ring. Rotate the ring a little in your hand, and repeat, until you have gone all the way around the ring. I then went around again two more times just to be sure.

Good Luck!
Ron

[Jolly Roger VX'er]

Thanks for the tips guys!

[VX4EJR]

This may be a silly question/comment, but I had an Isuzu dealer perform the repack. I walked in with a can-like container of Mobil 1 grease and the service tech only used about a handful of it, didn't seem like much at all and there was over 3/4's of grease leftover.
In fact he asked me what else he could use the grease for and that there were no other spots under the VX that he could lube or grease, at all.

Does this seem right??

:confused:

[autox-racer]

Seems right to me. The bearings don't really have much space between the races and bearing cage to hold much grease. However the hubs seem to be where the grease goes over time. Still, having repacked a lot of Toyota hubs, it does not take much grease.

I have yet to do my VX but they are way over due and will be done this spring if I get off my arse.

[Jolly Roger VX'er]

My interpretation is that the Superwinch hubs as well as the stock hub covers are sealed with a gasket. Apparently he couldn't find the part either because he used RTV instead.

Let us know how this job works out for you and any tips you have. I need to do mine very soon also!

I did mine at 45,000 miles (should've been done at 30,000 miles...dope!) and I just finished the job...started 9 A.M. Saturday morning and was done with tools put away and myself cleaned up by 2:00 P.M. This also included taking my disc brake sliders apart to clean and regrease with silicon grease and spraying various front-end components with Silicon Spray to keep the rubber pliable (C.V. Boots; Tie-rod end rubber seals; etc...). I also pulled the rear brake slider pins out...wiped them down...and regreased with silicon grease. I live on a dirt road and dust gets into everything!

Only tips I can add to the excellent tutorial posted in this thread is that you really should invest in an impact(the kind you hit with a hammer) with #2 Phillips bit and also use it with an 8mm Hex bit. I bought one from Advance Auto for $19.95 with #2 Phillips bit included and purchased the 8mm hex bit separately for $3.95. The impact with #2 Phillips loosened the trouble prone (3) 4X8mm screws so nicely that I reused them even though I had new ones because they were still in perfect condition! The impact with 8mm hex bit broke loose the six allen-screws spanning the circumference of the hub and then ratcheting them off with said bit is a snap! Don't forget that you need the wheel/tire on without centercaps in order to break the 6 bolts loose. (This meant I had to remove wheel/tire...take out chrome centercap...replace wheel/tire with 2 opposite lugs...break loose (6) 8mm bolts...remove wheel/tire!)

Be careful after removing the snap ring to remove the small washer that is behind it and is the same size as the snap ring....as this washer is not mentioned in the tutuorial and is very hard to see with grease covering it!

I thought the seal puller tool from Advance was worth $6.96 but since I live far from a Pep Boys I didn't have the benefit of a seal driver and couldn't find it anywhere else...so just used a block of wood (soft pine) and a rubber mallet and it seemed to do the trick.

I needed 5 small cans of carb spray from Walmart as 4 was not quite enough.
I used 2/3-3/4 can of Valvoline Synthetic Grease from Advance $4.89...most of the grease is used building your Grease dam in the hub between the races. RTV'ed the Hub flange(no gaskets were on mine) and also the hub cover (dust cover?) as I could see evidence (light rust) of water slightly getting into hub cover.

Cleaning out old grease from parts and setting the preload probably were the biggest time killers for me...I finally got the Preload set at 3# forward & reverse....was shooting for 3.3#! It danced all around 2 to 4 until I finally got it to read about 3# or a tick better!!!!

[Tone]

Impact wrench that you hit with a hammer might be good for those little phillips as the heads strip easily. In lieu of that, take the correct sized phillips screwdriver and hit it with a large hammer a couple of times and they will come right out easily. I just did bearings on 2 VXes it worked like a charm.

The IS a relatively large area between the front and rear bearings that should be packed with grease and the rest would be used to pack the bearings unyil it flows through the rollers (IF the dealer did it right - if they only took them outn didn't clean them, and put them back in, you'd only use half a can).

Seal puller is really only needed if you are trying to reuse the seals (which are only $4 ea). A screw driver or pry bar can easily pop them out without damaging the hub.