Rear wheel bearings failed

[CountrySquire55]

Installed new cast iron drums all around about 2500 miles (2 years) ago. Rear bearings were brand new along with the grease seals and lock rings and fully greased with high temp wheel bearing grease when installed. During a long road trip about 800 miles ago, left rear brake locked up after getting super hot. Readjusted the brakes and continued driving. Kept greasing the rear bearings (so I thought) through the grease fitting on the back side of the backing plate. Yesterday, removed left rear drum to inspect due to strange noise and found the bearing totally lacking grease and completely disintegrated (parts fell out of the drum as I removed it). The race looks OK, not scored. Removed the right rear drum and found no grease and the bearing about ready to fall apart. It appears that my efforts to keep the rear wheel bearings greased through the grease fitting were not working and not sure why. I have removed the grease fitting and tried to work a piece of safety wire through the passage but after about 1.5 inches, I cannot move it any further. Both rear hubs look like they have had new races pressed on. I want to make sure my new bearings stay greased so this problem does not happen again. Is there some grease passage way in the hub that could be blocked? Should there be some kind of hole in the hub (that is now covered by the pressed on races) to permit grease to get to the bearing from the grease fitting? I am not sure what to do next. Any suggestions? Thanks for any advice!

[RonC]

I'm not sure how properly greased bearings could have no grease after only 2500 miles? What type of grease did you use? You shouldnt have needed to regrease in only 2500 miles. Maybe you overheated the bearings from extreamly tight brakes??

[montanafordman]

Originally Posted by RonC

I'm not sure how properly greased bearings could have no grease after only 2500 miles? What type of grease did you use? You shouldnt have needed to regrease in only 2500 miles. Maybe you overheated the bearings from extreamly tight brakes??

I agree with Ron. Some people would argue not to grease them much at all through the axle tube and to only re-pack the bearings by hand every couple years or so. The seal inside the axle tube has been known to fail and you end up pumping grease up the axle tube toward the banjo and not into the bearing. If you pack the bearings well when installed they should last a lot more than 2500 miles.

-Aaron

[Tom Wesenberg]

The grease hole exits on the inside of the axle tube, so, as AAron said, if the axle seal is bad you end up with a greased axle rather than the bearing. I hand pack the bearings, and figure they should be good at least until the drum needs to be removed to check the brake linings, or at least 25,000 miles.

I'm curious as to the cause of your early bearing failure. It could be dirt, poor quality bearings, or???

[Tom Wesenberg]

"Installed new cast iron drums all around about 2500 miles (2 years) ago. Rear bearings were brand new along with the grease seals and lock rings and fully greased with high temp wheel bearing grease when installed."

Does this mean they were hand packed with grease, or greased only by the zerk?

[CountrySquire55]

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I purchased the new rear drums with bearings and grease seals installed and was assured the bearings had been hand packed with grease, and they looked like they had. Since the grease seals had already been pressed in, I could only add some extra grease to the exposed surface of the installed bearing plus the race which I did. Inspecting the way the bearings have disintegrated, I am thinking they were not properly hand packed with grease as I thought they were. Even without additional greasing via the grease fitting, after 2500 miles the one drum that did not get overheated should still have been fully greased, maybe less so for the drum that got overheated. Now trying to figure out where the passage is from the grease fitting to the bearing so I can make sure it is open since evidently none of the greade I had been putting in with my grease gun made it to the bearings.

[columbiA]

I always grease the brgs well by hand before installing them.I dont grease the brgs thru the fitting,but rather I pull the hubs every 10,000 miles & add grease if it looks good or replace seal & repack if seal is starting to leak.Starting around 1946,Ford did away with the grease fittings & advised that the hubs be pulled every 10,000 miles & repacked.Its also a good time to check linings etc.Some of the repop brgs are not as good a quality as the original Hyatt roller brgs with the spiral flexible rollers.

[H. L. Chauvin]

Humble opinion & just one "Guess".

In trying to sincerely figure out what occurred, & as parochial as this may appear, from your reported details, it sounds like the bearing installer only perhaps applied a very thin coat of grease in the hub race & on the bearings to temporarily prevent these shiny metal surfaces from rusting; & he then "assumed" that the owner would provide the final packing of the bearings with grease.

Then the middle man saw this coating of grease & "assumed" the bearings were packed with grease when he told you so.

Jusr cannot imagine a person wanting to stay in business & doing such a thing intentionally; but something else could have happened -- who knows? -- further investigation may be in order if seeking another answer.

[Hicktick]

I am curious , what did you torque the rear nuts to ????

[CountrySquire55]

Thanks for all the replies. I was told by the vendor that the bearings had been hand packed with grease prior to installation of the grease seals and from what I could see at the time, that looked to be the case. I added some extra grease myself to the bearing and to the race on the axle housing. I can only conclude that the bearings were not completely packed with grease since that is the only situation that mskes any sense. I have not yet been able to successfully get grease from my grease gun through the seek fitting and see it anywhere. As suggested above, my future practice will be to pyll the drums every 10000 miles to check the bearing grease and brake linings since I will no longer trust that grease gets to the bearing from the fitting. Regarding the rear axle nut, it was only torqued to about 85 ft pds and the drums were not binding on the backing plate. I am concluding the root cause was lack of sufficient grease at time of installation.

[Pete]

The culprit is the grease channel is plugged or your grease gun is not working.
You should be able to get a wire through the passage or blow compressed air through.
You said the hubs had been sleeved. It is possible but not likely, the sleeves are covering the grease holes.
Hand packing at 10k mile intervals is the most reliable.

[H. L. Chauvin]

This may be of no consolation to you; but one sincere way to look at it is:

1. You were concerned enough to check things out early.

2. Because of your prudence, only the bearings have to be replaced.

3. If you would not have acted responsibly & in time, the repair would have involved two (2) new axles, two (2) new axle housings races, & two (2) new cast iron drums -- plus shipping cost.

4. Then, tomorrow is just another day, & life will continue to present new stressful challenges to all of us -- those of us who try to forgive "ourselves" as well as "others" for our frail human shortcomings can better face tomorrow with a more compassionate smile.

Hope this helps even though not a "mechanical" response!

[john in illinois]

I have been through this bearing failure problem.

First the new roller bearings being sold have soft endplates and are lucky to make it 3,000 miles. Seek out and use original bearings. The grooved Hiatt bearings are usually good if not pitted. They have a spiral grease groove.

Second modern high temp grease is too slick for the long roller bearings. They skid and wear out. Use Sta lube drum brake grease SL3131 available at NAPA. This is a short fiber grease made for long roller bearings. Modern high temp grease is fine for the Timken taper roller bearings.,

This has been discussed extensively on the early V8 forum.Then you are good to go for 10,000 miles.

Good luck,John

[CountrySquire55]

Thanks for all the replies. No luck in clearing the grease passageway from the zerk fitting to the bearing area on the axle. It also turns out I will need new hubs in the drums. After I cleaned them thoroughly, I see significant scoring on both so they need to be replaced. The drums themselves look fine. In any event, as suggested, the best way to proceed is to grease the bearings myself this time, and then to check them and regrease every 10,000 miles or so. Hopefully, I can quickly obtain the parts I need, have new hubs installed on the drums, put it all back together, and be back on the road as soon as possible. Thanks again for the help!

[Tom Wesenberg]

If you have the grease zerk removed, you should be able to push a stiff wire into the hole, but it will only go a short distance before hitting the rear axle. Push the wire in until it stops, then rotate the axle back and forth to see if the wire is hitting it.

[Patrick L.]

I'm wondering what shape the axle housings are in.

[Pete]

Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg

If you have the grease zerk removed, you should be able to push a stiff wire into the hole, but it will only go a short distance before hitting the rear axle. Push the wire in until it stops, then rotate the axle back and forth to see if the wire is hitting it.

I'm wondering if they covered the hole when they sleeved the housings.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by Pete

I'm wondering if they covered the hole when they sleeved the housings.

I have an empty axle tube laying around, and the hole looks like it just goes straight at an angle to the inisde of the tube, so it would be drilled in more from the inner end of a sleeve. I'll remove the zerk and confirm the path for the grease.

[Tom Wesenberg]

I just removed the grease zerk, and the hole is as I stated, a straight path to the axle, where the axle seal should block it so the grease goes to the bearing. This is certainly a hit and miss affair at best. This is why most people hand pack the bearing and forget the zerk.