Rear wheel bearings: Remove and re-use original bearings?

[Wildthings]

[dobryan]

[riceye]

[Jake de Villiers]

[jlrftype7]

Wheels on the ground, wheels in the air, wheels off or on, it makes little, if any, difference in reference to the torquing of the rear axle nut. There is no "preload" on the rear wheel bearings as they are roller bearings with a spacer sleeve in between the two bearings.
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quoted from Christopher Schimke, june 30, 2008 post

But I'm guessing Preload is a Dead horse Topic with the comments in this thread....
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'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[Slimvest]

One of the few places I haven't touched on my van. Listening to this thread...
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'87 GL w/ Reimo top

[dobryan]

[shagginwagon83]

Needle grease here on my 130k probably original bearings. Honestly it was hard for me not to take it apart, clean, and regrease - especially when I had the whole bearing housing/assembly in hand.

I will say it was super fun to watch the old grease be pushed out. Redline CV-2 used.
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Brandon
"Jo Ann" - '83.5 Westfalia EJ22e w/Peloquin
Instagram @joannthevan

[Sodo]

[shagginwagon83]

Yup I did actually. I honestly wasted a lot of new grease just to make sure I was gucci
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Brandon
"Jo Ann" - '83.5 Westfalia EJ22e w/Peloquin
Instagram @joannthevan

[epowell]

So from all of these comments am I to assume that the verdict is IN?
That the best way to go, once it is determined that the OE bearing are still good, is to needle the old grease OUT and be done with it? >>> can I assume that most folks figure that removing the bearings entirely runs too much risk of damaging them, and is furthermore a very time consuming, tricky, and messy job?

But nobody yet has commented on the "middle-way" option of REMOVING THE BEARING HOUSING, SOAKING THE WHOLE THING IN PARTS CLEANER, REPACKING NEW GREASE, RE-INSTALL... ??? Wouldn't this method be superior to the needle because most of the old grease could be removed which would mostly eliminate the grease incompatibility issue.
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www.edwardpowell.com

[metropoj]

[epowell]

[Abscate]

Ed - please don't yell. You will unload the bearings with all that noise.

Ok, bold isn't yelling, technically..its loud talking.

#heart
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.ssS!

[vanagonjon]

As a long time VW van owner, with industrial bearing experience, you are probably best to leave it alone unless there is a problem. Then take the whole assembly apart, clean it absolutely spotless, inspect for the failure, replace the failed bearing. Then reassemble with new grease and seals. You need to get rid of any contaminants in the assembly. I would NEVER try to pull off a seal and re-grease in place, there are too many chances to introduce contamination into the housing. These VW rear bearing assemblies can run for over 50 years reliably. The bearings will wear but if they live in a clean environment with quality grease it may outlive the rest of the van. It is a cliche in old movies that we were always bombing German ball bearing factories, don't bomb your German bearings by getting dirt in to the housing.

John

[jlrftype7]

[bobbyblack]

Any hints on how to clean the inner seal area with the housing still attached? I see mentioned that if you pull the stub axle, you crud up that seal. I'd really LIKE to pull the whole axle and get the outer CV off on the bench. The area looks mighty tight tho, for a cleaning.
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'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch

[epowell]

[bobbyblack]

[DanHoug]