The Ford Barn

NealinCA · 06-06-2025, 05:45 PM

That's a 32-34 spindle, so no seal in the hub, just the tin grease shield on the spindle.

I'd recommend getting one of these bearing packers

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/l...iABEgIKf_D_BwE

You just fill it with grease, set your bearing in and push down until you see grease come through the bearing rollers. You can do the same in the palm of your hand, but this is a little cleaner and takes some of the guess work out.

Flathead Fever · 06-06-2025, 05:54 PM

I was mechanic for 30-years and packed more wheel bearings than I want to remember. I wouldn't clean it with a scotch Brite or anything that could leave deposits. Just a rag and some brake clean. The main reason I would even clean them at all is I didn't know what type of grease was previously used, not all greases are compatible. At the phone company I could always looked back in the vehicles records to see if we had already packed the wheel bearings, so I knew what grease was in there. If it had been done before by us, I knew what grease was in there. I would just pack the bearings and off it went for another 30K miles.

You want a just little grease where the seal rides so the seal lasts (f it even has a seal). Coat the spindle with light a coating of grease, it's mainly there to protect the spindle against rust. You don't want the whole cavity filled up with a blob of grease; The cavity helps the air dissipates the heat away from the bearings. On new cars from the factory there was just grease on the bearings, the rest of the cavity was clean in there. Pack the bearings full until clean grease comes out the opposite sides of them, then wipe some grease around the outside of them. We had a 15-gallom bucket of wheel bearing grease with a bearing packing tool on it. You clamped the bearing down on it, pushed down on the handle and all the old grease was pushed out and the new grease in. At home it's a little messier job, you can take a hand full of grease and pushed it through the bearing until the old grease is forced out and you see the new stuff oozing through bearing. Smear a little bit around the outside the bearings, which won't be hard because you'll be covered in it. Put it together and tighten the nut up a little and work the drum back and forth to remove extra grease, if you don't do this your bearings end up loose in just short time. Back the nut off and then just snug it with your fingers so there is no movement in the bearings. You do not want any pre-load on the bearings, just tighten (I hate to even use the word tighten) enough that there is no play in the drum inward and outward, no more tightening than it takes to get rid of the free paly in the bearings. Stick the cotter pin and you're done. Try not to smash the crap out of the cap. If it's the push in type I'd stick a large socket on it and gently tap it in so as not to dent it. Some of the caps on old cars are threaded. It's been so long I don't remember if flathead cars wheel bearing caps are threaded, I'm thinking they were. We never lost wheel bearings at work, some of them had more than 200K miles on them. Just grease them every 30K miles and do not overtighten them. Sometimes when they came back in for service and I had done the wheel bearings on the previous service they might have a little play in them. Then I might need to go back and tighten the nut up one cotter pin hole. Remember no play, but not too tight and they will last forever. Buy the best wheel bearing grease they make.

slow8 · 06-07-2025, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NealinCA

That's a 32-34 spindle, so no seal in the hub, just the tin grease shield on the spindle.

I'd recommend getting one of these bearing packers

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/l...iABEgIKf_D_BwE

You just fill it with grease, set your bearing in and push down until you see grease come through the bearing rollers. You can do the same in the palm of your hand, but this is a little cleaner and takes some of the guess work out.

Thanks for the info.

Yes, these are ‘32 spindles.

I was able to clean them up and the bearings now slide on.

I will be sure to thoroughly clean everything before assembly. They still need paint and I am pretty meticulous about prep.

So the seals are the cups built into the spindles?

Unfortunately, I just have a pile of hodgepodge parts and wasn’t able to disassemble everything to see how it is supposed to be.

I will remove the races from the drum and press in the new ones. Any tips on that?

06-06-2025, 05:45 PM	#1
NealinCA Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Central Coast, Calif. Posts: 868	Re: Inner Front Spindle Bearings ??? That's a 32-34 spindle, so no seal in the hub, just the tin grease shield on the spindle. I'd recommend getting one of these bearing packers https://www.summitracing.com/parts/l...iABEgIKf_D_BwE You just fill it with grease, set your bearing in and push down until you see grease come through the bearing rollers. You can do the same in the palm of your hand, but this is a little cleaner and takes some of the guess work out.

06-06-2025, 05:54 PM	#2
Flathead Fever Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Yucaipa, CA Posts: 1,358	Re: Inner Front Spindle Bearings ??? I was mechanic for 30-years and packed more wheel bearings than I want to remember. I wouldn't clean it with a scotch Brite or anything that could leave deposits. Just a rag and some brake clean. The main reason I would even clean them at all is I didn't know what type of grease was previously used, not all greases are compatible. At the phone company I could always looked back in the vehicles records to see if we had already packed the wheel bearings, so I knew what grease was in there. If it had been done before by us, I knew what grease was in there. I would just pack the bearings and off it went for another 30K miles. You want a just little grease where the seal rides so the seal lasts (f it even has a seal). Coat the spindle with light a coating of grease, it's mainly there to protect the spindle against rust. You don't want the whole cavity filled up with a blob of grease; The cavity helps the air dissipates the heat away from the bearings. On new cars from the factory there was just grease on the bearings, the rest of the cavity was clean in there. Pack the bearings full until clean grease comes out the opposite sides of them, then wipe some grease around the outside of them. We had a 15-gallom bucket of wheel bearing grease with a bearing packing tool on it. You clamped the bearing down on it, pushed down on the handle and all the old grease was pushed out and the new grease in. At home it's a little messier job, you can take a hand full of grease and pushed it through the bearing until the old grease is forced out and you see the new stuff oozing through bearing. Smear a little bit around the outside the bearings, which won't be hard because you'll be covered in it. Put it together and tighten the nut up a little and work the drum back and forth to remove extra grease, if you don't do this your bearings end up loose in just short time. Back the nut off and then just snug it with your fingers so there is no movement in the bearings. You do not want any pre-load on the bearings, just tighten (I hate to even use the word tighten) enough that there is no play in the drum inward and outward, no more tightening than it takes to get rid of the free paly in the bearings. Stick the cotter pin and you're done. Try not to smash the crap out of the cap. If it's the push in type I'd stick a large socket on it and gently tap it in so as not to dent it. Some of the caps on old cars are threaded. It's been so long I don't remember if flathead cars wheel bearing caps are threaded, I'm thinking they were. We never lost wheel bearings at work, some of them had more than 200K miles on them. Just grease them every 30K miles and do not overtighten them. Sometimes when they came back in for service and I had done the wheel bearings on the previous service they might have a little play in them. Then I might need to go back and tighten the nut up one cotter pin hole. Remember no play, but not too tight and they will last forever. Buy the best wheel bearing grease they make.