The old timer who insisted I pack wheel bearings with my fingers instead of a tool

I spent a whole season replacing hubs that failed because I followed his advice and let grit sneak in through the grease, so has anyone else had to rebuild a set of Shimano 105 hubs after trusting the hand-pack method?

3 comments

3 Comments

grant_hart28d ago

Man, I feel your pain on that one... I switched to a proper bearing packing tool after one ruined hub and never went back. The hand method just can't force the grease through the cage evenly like a press can. Once I started using a cheap injector, my hubs started lasting seasons again instead of months.

danielr9428d ago

Proper bearing packing tool" - man, I get that you had a bad experience but I really think this is one of those things people overthink. I've been packing bearings by hand for like 15 years now, just dollop of grease in the palm and push the bearing through it a few times, and I've never had a hub fail from it. Maybe I'm just lucky or maybe I don't push my equipment as hard as you do, but it seems like most of the time when a bearing goes it's because of water getting in or just age, not how you packed it. I'm not saying your way is wrong, I just wonder if the hand method gets blamed for stuff that would've happened anyway.

nathana4827d ago

Buddy of mine swore by hand packing for years. Till his trailer wheel locked up doing 60 on the interstate. @grant_hart's right about that even pressure thing.