Super novice question here, I recently bought 1940 rear hubs and new bearings/seal and snap ring. I’m wonder what the best method to pack the bearing with grease and the hub? Do you fill the hub with grease or just somewhat? Any info and pics would be great. chris.
I just did a pair of these recently, no experience with this set up before. After making sure both the new hub and new bearings were clean I put a smear of grease in the hub and packed the bearing with grease. Insert the bearing into the hub and install the seal and snap ring. When installing the seal make sure the seal spring stays in place in the seal. Coating the seal spring with grease helps to dampen the movement of the spring during installation. Sorry no pics. You haven't asked but I will add that whenever I install a new hub / drum combination I ***emble the drum and hub and secure them to each other. Machining the drum with hub attached ***ures that the bearing and drum surfaces are concentric. You'll want to do this before packing and installing the bearing.
Also, you want to use the old long strand wheel bearing grease. Sta Lube makes a good grease labeled "for drum brake bearings"
Man thank you so much for all the info! I bought American 1940 hubs so that I could ditch the Canadian one piece ***embly. Just had new studs pressed into the hubs and was wondering the best way to grease the bearings. I really appreciate this!
Just make sure that you actually "pack" the bearings and don't just smear grease on them and then fill the hub thinking that the grease will "flow" Grease that isn't actually packed in the bearing it's self and between the rollers or balls never "flows" to the bearing from the hub no matter what the boys down at the spit an whittle club claim. Just as grease packed into a dust cap never moves from the dust cap except for what grease moves when you install the cap and the end of the spindle and the nut take up the room and it is pushed around them.
While we are at it, Ford in later years removed the zerk on the axle ends that feed this bearing, to prevent over greasing and pumping it into the brakes. Meaning, you treat it like a front bearing with occasional service, and ignore those zerks
That's true, so then the question really is why do all the bearing manufacturers say to fill the hub cavity up with grease? Shop manuals same thing, fill hub cavity up to a level even with the bearing race or cups. I've seen that in GM manuals, says to fill the dust cap 1/2 full. Never understood that either, exactly.
Novaskilling, You didn't mention whether or not you purchased OEM Ford rear wheel bearings. If you purchased the aftermarket reproduction bearings DO NOT USE THEM as they are low quality. The bearing cages for the roller bearings are not hardened and will break apart. Genuine OEM bearings are available but not cheap. The name Ford is stamped onto the cages of OEM bearings. You can also reuse genuine Ford used bearings as they last forever! Also, use a Dremel tool to recut the bevel in the snap ring so it's easy to remove. Read this: https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=244021&highlight=rear+wheel+bearings Then do a "REAR WHEEL BEARING SEARCH" ON FORDBARN AND YOU WILL FIND TONS MORE OF GOOD INFO. DENNIS CARPENTER (RIP) claims his bearing are USA made but, I really wonder. I would like to know the name of the company that is making them. https://www.dennis-carpenter.com/tr...XrCWHIxf9yxlrDcdQ5Sn5Nj3IvxvNiycaAhvAEALw_wcB Be sure to read all this: https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=234677
what’s the best way to pack these giant bearings? They don’t seem to pack like modern wheel bearings being so tall.
Thank you for the links and info, I’m reusing the ford stamped bearings. How do you pack your bearings? The conventional way of packing modern bearings with grease in your palm doesn’t seem to work on these
I pack my bearings by hand, making sure that there is plenty of grease on the bearing rollers and between the bearing rollers as well as the cage. Then put a layer of grease inside the hub and insert the bearing. Then I apply lots more grease to the rollers, install the seal and snap ring. Do not put grease in the key way as that is suppose to remain dry for proper seating of the hub on the axle. Torque axle nut to specs. Go over to Fordbarn and SEARCH "REAR AXLE NUT TORQUE". It's over 200 ft. lb. DO NOT USE THE GREASE FITTING BEHIND THE BACKING PLATE TO APPLY GREASE TO REAR BEARINGS because the grease will end up on the brake shoes and drums.
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