Comments on: How To: Repack Cartridge Bearings

By: Grant

Grant — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:50:17 +0000

Bring back grease guard! Just like the grease fittings on a back hoe or a bobcat. It only makes sense. Seems like it might work better on angular contact hubs. How cool would it be to just keep your hubs pumped with fresh grease and properly adjusted? Can you hear me Shimano?!

By: JoelGuelph

JoelGuelph — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 14:49:33 +0000

I emailed NLGI. We’ll see what they say.

+1 on the dental pick. I asked my dentist for his old picks and he agreed to give them to me as long as I promised not to do “home dental work” with them. I’ve also seen them at the surplus store for a couple of bucks each.

By: Nato

Nato — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 03:26:50 +0000

At my shop we use a dental pick to pry the covers off.
That is a seriously handy tool for a lot of things, like cleaning, and opening up the ends of housing after you cut it.

By: Bob

Bob — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:53:17 +0000

We used to repack aircraft axle bearings in the same manner as you describe above. Basically just clean ‘em out, dry ‘em and cram some new grease in.

As for the debate about using bicycle grease or general auto grease, I say someone ask the experts at the National Lubricating Grease Institute at http://www.nlgi.com/ask_the_expert/. Serving the grease industry since 1933.

Yea, that’s what I said.

By: Noah

Noah — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:23:30 +0000

I do the same thing with my non-sealed bearings. Clean up the races with a dremel and wire brush, then follow it with some polishing compound. I can always buy new bearings later. Good call on servicing sealed bearings. I like it.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:52:43 +0000

Once upon a time, there was this little company called Wilderness Trail Bikes. They used to ride their bikes a lot and after probably performing this “how to” came up with an ingenious concept - Grease Guard! After that, hubs, bottom brackets, headsets, and even pedals became easy to service. Ooop, forgot about the Speedmaster rollercam brakes with Grease Guard. Grease Guard bearings were custom made so that as new grease was injected in (without having to remove the bearing), old grease came out. This method ensured that your bearings always had fresh, clean grease in them at all times. Ahh, those were the days.

Here’s one thing to think about when removing the bearing: don’t beat on an unsupported race when removing or installing the bearing. This will do more damage to the bearings ability to spin freely than the grime inside of it. Beating on the race could damage both the bearing and the races then you might as well fall back to the initial thought of just replacing them anyway.