How to GREASE, Un-Seize and Clean SEALED Bearings

Great info thanks! I'm searching for u-joint, as in driveline, comparisons. Do you know anyone who has compared wear, load abilities, and resistance to operational grime with OEM new u-joints and a few popular aftermarket brands too? Like Moog to Spicer to Toyota to GM, etc.

I am especially interested in tests between the same size of competitive brands of both sealed and re-greaseable universal joints.

Love that dog.

Thanks a lot for the info, Moe! Glad to learn about the 25% factor, as I've been packing bearings the way I saw them done on automotive channels - filling them up completely. Who knew?! I'd always choose to free up a frozen or janky-sounding bearing and flush them out first before tossing (in case they're still serviceable), so this video is right up my alley. I recently commented on another channel about the creator throwing out a frozen lawn tractor pulley which might very well have been saved in a few minutes instead of waiting for an ordered one to arrive. Saving time and $ - that's me! ;-)

Don't use EP grease in a bearing, the moly will act like an abrasive etching the surface and causing premature failure. EP grease is only for low speed sliding applications like pin joints, a 5th wheel, or ball joint. Otherwise, thanks for the video!

Super helpful video. Thank you.

dont repack when its brand new. Repack it after a year of using 😉

Love it when bearings have a plastic cage. Then its super easy to take it fully apart and clean all the parts separately.

I do this every year on my snowmobile skid..Saves me money and I know there is good quality grease in my bearings,Great video!!!

use gasoline its the best cheapest degreaser and toss it in the wind and it gone like a fart in the wind ,,,, but hell to the no if your ever asked by a epa city code guy say you use carb cleaner

Did this with a idler pully probably twice and it went 226k on a chevy cruze saved $80

Bearings are so cheap, it's generally not worth it. Re greasing at the right interval is more important but you can't un-damage bearings. Dry bearings fair enough but any gritty feeling or extra play and just replace it. It's much worse to have a bearing fail completely and destroy something rather than throwing away a bearing with 6months to a year left on it. Just change them. You'll know what bearings are critical and which ones aren't. Run non critical bearings to failure though as long and removing the rings won't be difficult or damage the equipment.

What grease number did you use?

Thank you, very useful video , i just bought the lithium based Grease.

Awesome thanks for letting me know

good job very informative thanks

Marine Greece seems to always work for anything around. Water or moisure just not wash away

I've been cleaning and regreasing sealed bearings for the last few years. I actually just did the front wheel bearings on my 4 wheeler last week

Perfect timing seeing this as I am working on my hubs on an older Jeep! Thanks so much!

I know im late but i had to add this those plastic pulleys appear to be off of riding mower ill add that when you replace them the replacement pulley is generally made in china and they generally either have no grease in them at all or very little grease and they do fail prematurely if you dont pop the seals and grease them prior to installation
ask me how i know

🥰🥰💗💗😍😍

I'm thinking I will use boat trailer bearing grease in the future as it is water repellent. Hopefully it will resist allowing even moisture from the air to enter and change the make up of the grease.

One could use a syringe or sandwich baggie with the corner snipped off as an "toothpaste tube" to more easily inject grease into that small space.

I use red and tacky for every thing. Never had a problem with it.

Disclaimer: I'm not a tribologist, only a bearing engineer.

Make sure you use a compatible grease. Not all thickeners play nice. If in doubt, either replace the bearing (best option) or thoroughly clean the old grease out. IMO screwing around with this isn't worth your time vs just replacing with a good quality new bearing. In all likelihood, the one you install will be better quality and have a higher dynamic load capacity (last longer) than the old one.

I, sometimes dilute the grease with some fresh engine oil and fill a syringe 💉 with that and apply on the bearings 😅

I pop the seals first with a fine needle then finish lifting up the seal with pick/small screwdriver, wash the bearing in kerosene until all bits of old grease is gone , spray the bearing with a jet of water to wash out the kerosene, then quickly compress air the bearing until dry … pack (but not overpack) with name brand synthetic grease..press in seals ..wala

I learnt about this in the first year of my apprenticeship as a fitter/machinist.When I tried to tell an old farmer about over greasing bearings he looked at me like I didn’t know what I was talking about.

Thanks ! A lot of good infor in here

not recomand lithium grease

What about axle bearings? Same thing 25-30% full or do those not follow these rules?I have to do that this week for my 4wd hubs.

Your wrong. You force grease in one side untill it pushes everything out the other side, yes rust kills them but if its full of fresh grease water cant get to the balls. Grease needs to get down into the balls or your wasting your time.

Thanks from India

thank you

very good

I worked for a bearing manufacturer and this is the best advice I've seen about how much grease to use. No one ever goes back to the people who make the bearings to ask. And if you did you might just get a lot of equations from an engineer. One company has a chart. But your advice of about 25% of full pack is good. Cleaning it out with acetone works but it is not good for the plastic cages on some bearing and it is bad for the rubber seals, so be careful. WD-40 is pretty benign and only takes a little longer.

When machine bearing is locked, there is no way to make it run again :)

Why would you bother to do this? Bearings are not expensive just buy some new bearings from your auto store.

Thank you! No one ever talks about this. Bearings have a specification for the amount and frequency of regreasing. People use way too much on high-speed wheel bearings, like on motorcycles.

most likely the clear grease is called super lube grease..., have plenty of that myself and used in military sealed bearing applications.

In the old days, we packed tapered bearings all the way full and half way full in the hub. We could adjust the tension and it worked well. Never had any issues and they ran the life of the car or truck. Grease flows outward due to centrifugal force and cycles itself in the hub. Usually regrease on brake changes. However, the new roller bearings don't work that way and usually burnout in a short time. They too spin the grease to the outside of the race. That's why you don't pick the cover from the outside edge, it will cause a leak point. The problem is, they wear down the race area compared to taper bearings and regreasing is often a waste of time and they will start humming in a short time and need replacing anyway. I've done it a few times and they just don't last.

dog

Too less grease will be cast aside , the hollow part. As a motorcycle mechanic I grease the bearings almost 80-90%. Use gear oil to thin the grease for proper circulation, since motorcycle bearings run cooler. No issues till now.

If you have a slow rotating bearing such as on an electric gate or even a mountain bike then almost filling the bearing is the way to go, it will never overheat, it turns too slowly, and will last almost forever. Even when fitting new bearings they come with the amount of grease for high revs and should be repacked if used for slow rotation. If they are full of grease, water ingress or condensation just does not happen and they do not 'dry' out which is why they will then last almost forever.

It must be tempting to oil them instead of using grease.

Cool video dude

Shouldn't we use a few drops of Oil & spin it beforehand so the grease settle faster ?

i used to work with diamond grinding machines used the mill down concrete wet. at the end of the day you absolutely had to grease the pillow blocks on the main shaft until it came squirting out everywhere pushing the water out of the bearing. if you didn't do that every day of use the bearings would seize in 1` night. these were expensive tapered roller pillow blocks. cost $500 a pair 30 years ago . and the time to change them was also crazy as one of them was sandwiched between a nut and the entire pack of 150 diamond blades.
so in that application you pack the bearing 125% with a grease gun.

Sometimes this is a fix. Sometimes the bearing is just wore out and needs to be replaced. Once they rattle and grind its beyond fixing with fresh grease.