'54 Olds: Repacking wheel bearings-Best type of grease? Other tips?

I'm planning on redoing the brakes on my Olds ('54 88 Holiday Coupe) and will be at a minimum repacking and as needed replacing wheel bearings.

I've done this job on newer cars (oldest prior to this was my 1969 Nova) plenty of times, and I have a shop manual for the Olds, so my question is primarily concerning what type of grease you all prefer to use.

I know that petro-technology has changed a lot over the years, mostly for good, but I am aware that old iron may have different needs and want to buy a good product.

Any recommendations from you HAMBers?

Also, I've never inspected ball type wheel bearings on a car before-is there anything in particular that is different from the later roller type bearings that I should pay attention to regarding inspecting the bearings?

As always, thanks for the help and guidance.

 

Lubriplate wheel bearing grease. Any good bearing store should carry it.

 

Pits, rust, and scoring will destroy ball bearings fast! They run on a small point of contact and once it's damaged the bearing is toast. More maintence than tapered rollers, but as far as packing them, same basic drill. Be very careful about not overtightening them.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I'll check out the Lubriplate.

 

I "upgraded" grease a few years ago to Mobil 1 synthetic with very dissapointing results. It is red in color, and that red "oil" tends to seep out of the grease. I completely rebuilt my manual steering box - totally clean inside and then refilled with Mobil 1, new seals etc,etc,etc. I would then have to occassionally wipe the red "drips" off the bottom of that thing. Every part I used it on - garage door track screw - you name it, dripped red oil. I like the "moly" infused regular grey grease, and it's cheaper! Good Luck!

 

Use a fibrous wheelbearing grease if you can find it. Modern bearing greases are designed for roller bearings and will throw out of a ball bearing.

 

Thanks-it's info like this that makes the HAMB such a great tool. This car is going to get driven plenty when it's finished, so I am really focusing on brakes/steering and want to have it solid.

 

You might want to consider changing over to roller bearings. much longer life and a whole lot less maintenence

 

Just go down to NAPA and get a can of wheel bearing grease and squish that shit in there.