hokey doke, following my workshop manual I see that I should grease the iner and outer bearings before I put them into the hub but it clearly states "do not pack the space in the hub between the two bearings with bearing grease but apply the grease liberaly to the rollers of the inner bearing, inner cone assembly and place it in position in the hub"
Nowhere does it say to fill the void with grease, in fact just the opposite, so if I do will it cause a problem? what keeps the bearings loaded with grease?
Hmm, why have a workshop manual if I don't believe it, good question but I can't answer it.

That isn't how we were taught to do it and after 45 years in the trade I haven't had a come back.

So would you fill the void?, not sure which bit you weren't taught the book way or my instinct way.

And another question, would it be a good idear to install a grease nipple in the grease cap?, that way I could grease the hubs whenever I give it a service

Yes to packing the void between the bearings and definitely NO to fitting a grease nipple,that would be asking for trouble as the grease isn't a consumable and overgreasing causes more heartache than lack of maintenance. Use a good quality wheel bearing grease such as Caltex Liplex and you should be OK for years. A tip -use disposable gloves when packing the bearings,it keeps the crap out of the bearings and when you are finished just pull them off and toss them in the bin.

Thanks grumble, all to be done termorer.

No to filling the void IMO. In my trade where bearings are a big feature, I was taught by a bearing manfacturers instructional video that filling the void actually makes the grease overheat and then while too hot it moves away from the bearing which eventually leads to premature failure. Any void, space beside the bearing, which in our case ends up being the cap, the space between the bearings and the space between the bearing and the seal should be roughly 1/3 full max.

So therefore it stands to reason, no to the grease nipple as it will only over fill the area with grease.

Hi

I was taught to only smear enough grease inside the void to prevent corrosion and the same with the cap, also run a bead of silicone around the cap edge and both areas where the speedo cable comes into the cap.

Steve

Weeeellll now which way do I go, The bearing that failed seemed to be contaminated with water as it was no longer nice and shiny but then it wasn't rusty either, looks like I will follow the manual, the silicone bit sounds fair at least on the grease cap side, the inner side has a rubber seal fitted, at least it has now as there wasn't one on it when I striped it down but noted one on a diagram in my book and found one on an old part I had on the shelf so I used that one. Just a question about the grease not being a consumeable, why does the car have grease nipples on heaps of other moving parts but not on the part that moves the most and would seem to do the most work, seems odd to me (not doubting the validity of the previouse statements about not fitting a grease nipple) Thanks to all contributors.

Hi

The reason that you don't want a grease nipple on the cap is because the area can be overfilled, the torsion beam has escape pathways for the grease to flush through.

The silicone cant do any harm, on the inner side of speedo cable, it only a push fit into the rubber, looking at your avatar you go off road, if you submerge a hot hub in water it will suck in the water.

I find the best way to pack wheel bearings is to put decent dob of grease in one palm and plunge the bearing edge into it until worms out the other side and then turn the bearing a little and repeat the plunging.

Steve

You answered the questions yourself .

When have you ever seen grease nipples on a wheel bearing???

As for no seal.....I think you can assume why the bearing failed.

Thanks 1303, my avatar is a bit deceptive, the wench is so low I actualy bogged it on the beach, but I know what you mean with the hot hubs, I did in 2 sets of boat trailer bearings before I learned my lesson. And thanks to you matt, I most certainly can assume and did that as it was the outer bearing that failed, ie. closest to the water path, that's why I went looking for the seal.

no grease in void . u just wasting grease.

Hi

A question to void fillers, how is the grease in the void any use to the wheels bearings? Will it flow out into the wheel bearings to prevent a bearing failure?
A. It wont

You just need a smear in there to prevent the area corroding.

Steve

The reason they don't fit grease nipples to front hubs is that its very easy to push the seal out of the hub, ask me how I know