Maintenance: Front Wheel Bearing Grease

[eduJ]

The owner's manual calls for replacing front wheel bearing grease every so often. How important is it to get this done? Is this a fairly simple job that can be done with basic hand tools?

Thanks in advance.

[Leo1998]

You know, i believe you can handle it, get a grease gun and look for the zerk fittings(looks like a nipple). Use the grease gun and (ask autoparts store what weight of grease you need) and pump enough grease into the zerk fitting until you see it coming out. May not come out of the fitting but out of the area you are pumping the grease into, keep your eye out you will see it. It is that simple, good luck and tell us if you got it.

[Towncivilian]

The only grease fittings on our vehicles from the factory are on the driveshafts. This guide shows how to regrease the wheel bearings.

[Carlsbad]

To change the front wheelbearing grease you have to take the bearings off the front axle. At the same time you adjust the preload on the conical bearings which greatly improves smoothness. I think it should be done every 100k. I did mine at 120k and it greatly improved ride. Additionally, if your wheel bearing grease gets dirty or leaks out, you could suffer wheel bearing failure. If you damage your axle, it could get expensive to repair. Here is the link to the thread:

post6496165.html?hilit=wheel%20bearing#p6496165

It isn't too difficult but isn't a job for a beginner either. Screwing it up can cause whell bearing failure which is the main reason you see cars beside the road with a wheel missing. You need some special tools. I make the pin wrench (still have it) and used the trigger pull scale from my gunshop to measure the pull away force.

One thing to watch out. You torque the bearings to 70 ft lbs or so to seat them. MAKE SURE you untorque them and then retorque to the much lower (less than 1 ft lb) number. again, I used my gunsmithing in-lb torque wrench for that adjustment.

--Jerry