Vanagon Rear Wheel bearing repacking Help!

[vanis13]

[Wildthings]

[Wildthings]

[beach_creature]

I used Red Line cv axle and wheel bearing grease. I was unaware of using a needle for greasing bearings. I have only ever used the palm of my hand to force the grease through. Which clearly would not work for the original bearings I used, but would very effectively on the new bearing I purchased.
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84 Westy
1.9TD AAZ
5spd manual with Locking Peloquin TBD

[outwesty]

In an effort to reuse good factory rear wheel bearings (w/o adding zerks) has anyone successfully tried soaking the entire housings w/ bearings in diesel fuel overnight and then given it a good cleaning in a parts cleaner? Once the bearings dry out, re-grease with a bearing packer or needle and call it good ?

I'm about to do drums, shoes, cylinders, TAB's and the stock wheel bearings are glassy smooth with no play at 190k miles. I'd prefer not to add the zerks.

Thanks

[Merian]

sure - inspect carefully - I use a loupe

do NOT use an air gun to dry them - no fast spins w/o lube

Lisle makes a cheap & nifty bearing packer - much more fun than doing it by hand and seems to work better

clean everything else carefully & inspect well

time to use a quality grease; I have a bunch of Swepco laying around & use that; others swear by Synpower

reread your post and you ARE talking about a complete disassembly aren't you??
- this is a lot more critical to vehicle safety than a heater blower bearing, despite false analogies made by some elsewhere

[outwesty]

Thanks for the reply Merian. Yes, complete disassembly, but not removing the bearings from the housing as I'd imagine they would be damaged. As odd as it sounds I've had good luck with amsoil synthetic arctic grease used in all seasons.

[insyncro]

[Merian]

you should remove the bearings every x00,000 miles and put in new ones or inspect & R&R if not damaged

check the price on new bearings

be sure to get high quality ones

[letsrig]

[djkeev]

[RGS Paul]

I feel stupid for asking but I can’t quite figure it out. If you don’t add the zerk fittings, how do you get grease into the bearings? Use a grease gun with a needle fitting on the end and carefully fill all the little nooks and crannies?

I’m looking to pull the rear bearings on my syncro in the next few weeks and I want to make sure I know how it all goes back together first.

Thanks,

Paul
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'87 Syncro 7-Pass. Adventure Touring Vehicle
"Simplicate, then add lightness." Colin Chapman

[dobryan]

I have used a long needle into the bearings to push in new grease and out with the old. I am sure it is not perfect but much better than nothing and I do not trust new bearings any more.
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Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2002 Subaru EJ25 and Peloquin TBD

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson

MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646

Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371

The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794

[RGS Paul]

Thanks. I wouldn't replace them but I'm pretty sure the right one is making noise. It's either that or the drum and it only happens under load and goes away while turning one way which makes me think bearing. I'm debating if I want to get new housings while I'm in there, the van only has 275k miles at this point.

Paul
_________________
'87 Syncro 7-Pass. Adventure Touring Vehicle
"Simplicate, then add lightness." Colin Chapman

[alaskadan]

Hopefully you're right about which one it is. I had a bearing going bad on my syncro slowly over the last 6 months. Id done the drivers rear last year. It finally got noisy enough that I had to fix it. I'd have sworn it was on the pass side. The the rear had excessive play I thought. So i replaced the bearings. Still had noise. Arg. OK did the front pass bearing, it was the next loosest bearing. Still have noise. Damn it Jim. The drivers front had hardly any play. Should've known it was the culprit, it was tight because it was falling apart inside. I was reading old threads on finding a bad bearing. Jon slider wrote that touching the coil spring whilst spinning the wheel you can feel the bad bearing easier. It's tough on a syncro with no decoupler though. At the least you need a decoupler or remove the driveline to the front diff. Pulling axles would be optimal for a free spinning wheel test. Front axle removal on a syncro is a bit of a pain. Oh well, new bearings all around is good. I did the zirks on the rear years ago.

[Sodo]

[skills@eurocarsplus]

[dobryan]

[Sodo]

[RGS Paul]

Thanks sodo! That would be easy to screw up. One of these days I’m just buying a press and all the little special tools. I just need more space, or fewer spare parts.

Paul
_________________
'87 Syncro 7-Pass. Adventure Touring Vehicle
"Simplicate, then add lightness." Colin Chapman