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MG MGB Technical - How to pack bearings with grease

Changed a front wheel bearing today, and packed the bearings with grease by pressing it in with my fingers. That sure did the job, but it took rather long, long enough to make me wonder if there is a better way. Using a plastic syringe didn't really improve things.
Jochen
Jochen Beyer

There are bearing packing devices on the market which look like a couple of cones with a grease zerk attached to one. The idea is to mount the bearing so that the inverted upper cone covers the outter race and the inverted lower cone holds on the ID of the inner race. Then you can pump grease through the bearing unitl you see it come out the bottom side. I've never used one, still pack my bearings by hand. Not a 'clean' job, but I just put a dollop of grease in the palm of my left hand and then drag the bearing across my palm until I see grease appear between the balls or rollers on the upper side, then rotate the bearing a bit and repeat. Takes a bit of effort, but it's the way the old time mechanics taught me and I've never had a bearing failure on a bearing I packed. (40+ years and counting)
Bill Young

Jochen,
There is such a tool as a bearing packer which is a suction cup looking device you place the bearing in and pump it full of grease with your grease gun.
This tool is not necessary however. Simply place a small blob of grease in the middle of the palm of your hand. Then with your other hand press the large side of the tapered bearing down into the very outside edge of your grease blob and drag the bearing towards you with a scraping motion. Repeat this until you begin to see grease sqeezing out between the rollers on the top of the bearing. Rotate the bearing a few degrees and repeat. The entire process takes about 30 seconds or less with practice.
If you hate getting your hands greasy or plan on packing a LOT of bearings, buy the tool. I've been a mechanic for 15 years and have never used one, but then I don't pack bearings all day long!

Scott
Scott Wooley

I pack them the way Bill and Scott suggested. I have never considered buying a bearing packer. FWIW, Clifton
Clifton Gordon

The bearing packing tool is a relatively inexpensive piece. I think it was under 10 dollars at most parts houses.

Saying that, I find I get my hand as greasy using the packing device as the hand packing way.

Alos, with the packing machine I have, you have to screw one half off, put the bearing on and screw the half back on. Time wise, I can probably do two bearings by hand in the time it takes to set up one on the packing machine.
Bruce Cunha

Jochen,

Bill, Scott, Clifton, Bruce and now myself all agree that the method discribed above called palm packing is the easiest fastest and to me the best way of packing bearings.

Regards,

Ray
Ray 1977mgb

Been doing "palm packing" since the mid 60s too. Never got around to buying a bearing packing either. They always seemed to take more time to set up and use than to use the palm method and clean up.
Bob Muenchausen

use rubber gloves for your your palm packing.
Is it just me or does that sound a bit devient?
Peter

Personally I have always used the palm pack method and only ever packed one half of the bearing.
The unpacked space allows room for the grease to expand as the bearing warms up to the operating temperature thus avoiding grease spatter and dislodged seals if these are fitted.

I second the point above about using rubber gloves. I use the disposable types and a barrier cream as well since this helps prevent the grease finding it's way into any skin if there is a break in the gloves.
With oil based products now considered carcinogenic the small costs for the disposable really is a no brainer.

Pete...now using barrier cream AND rubber gloves truly is deviant!

Cheers , Pete.
Peter Thomas

I watched the local British Leyland trained mechanics do this several years ago. They always used the palm packing method. One other note though, the bearings need to be perfectly clean first. They always used a parts washer then used an air hose to dry them. They would blast them with air and rinse several times until all the bearings spun freely. You do this at home in your own shop with mineral spirits and an air tank.
Rick Penland

Dittos!
By hand is the best way ever.
SF
Dwight
DCM McCullough

Finger-tip rather than palm, but otherwise much the same. It is important to keep pressing in from one side only until it comes out the other, and not to try and take a short-cut by pressing in some from both sides, even if pressing it in the 2nd side squeezes some out of the 1st, or you will get air pockets and insufficient packing.
Paul Hunt 2

You guys are right about the gloves too, only choose vinyl or latex depending on whether you are allergic to latex or not. I live with eczema on my right hand from too many years of NOT using gloves and having just stuck my hand(s) into whatever chemical I was using, from carb cleaner to Simple Green. It wasn't until the late 70s that I finally wised up, and even yet, I sometimes find myself reverting to my old bad habits. But no one has to subject themselves to eczema or any other skin disorder if they just exercise some caution. Seems like common sense today, but years ago, so did just sticking your hand in a can of grease.
Bob Muenchausen

I tried to get some latex gloves from an mg spares Show a few years ago. Asked at one stall and he looked at me like I was a poofter, but that was because he didn't stock them and he was a Yorkshireman.

I remember a rant by Jeremy Clarkson a few months ago about a stunt they tried to do on Top Gear which proved impossible simply because of the strictures of the Health and Safety at Work Act. Then last Sunday a drama on TV had the enraged and unstable father of a child that had been killed by a motorist on a cycle-way trying to dig up the markings with a pick-axe, whilst wearing eye-protection. That was the Act for you, there is no way someone in that state would think "Now where did I put my goggles ..."

France doesn't have such an Act, even though it is a European Parliament requirement. If you want to do something stupid in France you just get a Gallic shrug from everyone, then they hose up the mess afterwards. C'est la vie.

I did get my gloves from another stall.
Paul Hunt 2

agree fully about the use of gloves, even if i dont always do it myself. A word on the latex gloves and allergy though - in my job, i wear gloves all day long. what has been found is where the latex gloves are powdered, this in itself seems much worse than unpowdered for sensitive skin types. such that, we are no longer, under health and safety, to use powdered gloves of any kind anymore. or latex. the industry standard (for us anyway)is now unpowdered vinyl. the upshot of this is less of my colleagues have red hands, but we are all doing a weird dance trying to get in and out of unpowdered gloves. the other advantage is that vinyl doesnt seem to cause as much sweating, and it lasts a lot longer, is less prone to tearing in car-fix scenarios, and can be removed and reused in the workshop.
most of my friends think its over the top, but given that all of the chemicals and biopsies i use at work are pretty much known quatities, but most of the 'bodily fluids' that pour out of my MGB are old, mysterious composition types, i like getting gloved up!
for what its worth
mick
m rae

On the topic of Gloves. I am the health/safety manager for a large medical clinic and have delved into this issue for ten + years.

I use Nitril gloves for the shop. They hold up the best to a variety of chemicals.

Bob has hit the nail on the head. Problem with allergies is that you cannot tell when one will crop up. Put your hands in oil or solvent or latex gloves day in, day out and then one day, wham. You cannot get near that product again.

The cancer issue a side (unless you literally work in oil or grease on a daily basis, the risk is still very low) I now am in a positin where my appearance needs to be a bit better than stained hands and fingernails that are near impossible to get clean.

Gloves help, but then owning an MG does give ample opportunity to have dirty hands.
Bruce Cunha

Bruce is dead right about the nitril gloves. I'm a petrochemical chemist and on occasion must dabble my fingers in chemicals all day long. We tried every type and kind of glove. Would fill them with toluene , petrol etc and hang them up to see which would drip first. Nitril is best by miles, and leaves no odour (cheap latex rubber stinks, contains sulphide/mercaptan residue). They will even keep out chloroform for a while. They can be got from any chemical lab' supplier and are about $20 a box. Seems a bit expensive but although thin, they are tough and last a good long time. They are those blue gloves you often see "forensic detectives" wearing on TV.
Come in a variety of sizes, most guys prefer extra large. You can also get very thin cotton "under gloves" from the same supplier if you sweat a bit (large also). Makes changing tyres, working on the car etc much more pleasant.
Peter

I saw a demonstration at a Technology School that trained apprentice mechanics. They challenged anyone to hand-pack a bearing and then they packed the same type of bearing using a bearing packer. They then put the bearings into a machine that stressed them to destruction. The hand packed bearing lasted to less than half the stress that the pressure packed bearing. He also cautioned about allowing a bearing to spin when you blow dry it after washing in the parts washer. He said that the dry bearing can begin to destruct in seconds of spinning. His answer to “How do you pack your bearings at home?” He smiled and said: “By hand.”
Godspeed in Safety Fast
Jc
John Crawley

You can get a box of 40 latex gloves from TESCO for 3.99 in the UK.

I use them loads, but do get a bit red when using them for prolonged periods, think its the powder, might try turning them inside out next time.
Liam

Liam

At least in the US. The powder in gloves is corn starch. I have only found one documented case of a true corn starch allergy. You would have a hard time living in this world, if you had a conr starch allergy. Not much out there that does not have it in it.

If your hands are getting red or irritated. It is either a reaction to one of the many chemicals (even Natural Latex Ruber, is processed with a number of chemicals) or a reaction to sweating under the glove. Sweat is a great breeding ground for bacteria. That is why your underarms smell, the bacteria from your skin growing in the perspiration.

BTW. If you do sweat in gloves, Use a spray on antiperspirant on your hands. Works well at reducing the sweat.


One thing to know. Petrolium based items have a tendency to degrade Latex. Not a big deal if you are just using the glove to keep your hands clean, but in Healthcare, we had to eliminate the petrolium based hand creams due to this issue.
Bruce Cunha

This thread was discussed between 28/02/2006 and 05/03/2006

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