You might be the only person that enjoys repacking wheel bearings every year.
Most vehicle owners don’t perform their own vehicle maintenance. Maintenance-free wheel bearings have become the popular choice.
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Technically called tapered roller bearings.
Two rows of angular contact ball bearings carry the vertical and lateral loads more efficiently. Lower rolling resistance. It has been common for over 30 years.
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How old is your truck?
I don’t have a truck and why are you asking ?
I’m sure the OP was talking/asking about Georges 50+yo truck, he just doesn’t have the quote thing down…
Check the post he quoted you from…
@Mustang14 George is very out of date with vehicles being his are 30 and 50 plus years old… Nothing wrong with that, but he has not worked on anything new much of any…
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I thought you were the guy with the unknown whatever truck who thinks maybe Mustang bearing are like his trucks. I don’t know.
You just replied to me (davesmopar)… lol
Might be a little easier replying from the forum instead of email…
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Of course it would help if George did not feel it necessary to bring his old vehicles into every discussion and his stories.
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There’s an important safety advantage of repacking the truck’s front bearings as part of routine maintenance. All the brake parts are exposed for inspection. Last time I repacked the truck’s front wheel bearings I discovered a broken brake spring and brakes shoes near the wear limit. I could also see the drum surfaces remained in good shape and the dimensions remained within spec. I replaced the shoes, the broken spring, and the wheel cylinders all as part of the bearing repack job. Truck is safer because of periodic repacking the wheel bearings. Took some time, true, but safer seems a good compromise.
That only applies to you and your old truck, you are the only one with front drum brakes. All cars and light trucks have had front disc brakes since the late 1970’s.
Brake pads and rotors are given a visual inspection during each service visit, usually every 5000 miles and without the additional labor charge that goes with removing wheel bearings.
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Some trucks do have disc brakes with wheel bearings inside of the rotors (e.g. many yours of Rangers). So it’s not just with drums, and regular bearing checks/cleaning/re-packs are normal maintenance. I’m sure you do know that.
Of course, the “norm” these days is sealed bearings in the hubs, I think. So you just replace the whole hub (which I’ve also done quite a few times).
I’m sure I’m not telling you anything. But some things here can’t just be chalked up to George’s old vehicles.
I repacked the wheel bearings in my truck in 2009, but not part of the brake inspection. There is no disassembly involved to inspect disc brakes during routine maintenance, therefore regular brake inspections do not make tapered wheel bearings more favorable.
If you know how to pack and adjust your wheel bearings with the correct grease, properly, then they will last at minimum the life of the brakes…
And most drum brakes have inspection holes in the backing plates so you can see the life left without pulling the drums, some have knock outs that simply need to be knocked out and the rubber plugs installed…
And all these years I thought those holes were so you could back off the brake shoes to remove the drum.
Tester
Different holes, can’t see the shoes through the adjuster holes… And I didn’t say all…
Maybe some instead of most would be a better word…
Courtesy of Auto Zone:
+1
I’m sure that George is a very smart man, but he seems to ignore/forget that almost everyone else in a Western nation is driving a vehicle with technology that can be very differerent from what was prevalent 50 years ago.
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Ford does not recommend repacking the wheel bearings every year. I repack mine every 3-4 years. I’ll grant I repacked the bearing more often during the pandemic when the truck was driven many thousands more miles per year than usual. But still not every year.
Possible. Some cars will make a noise like that if the power steering fluid is low or starved by a clogged filter in the power steering reservoir.
@Jerome-Silverman , the 2014 Mustang has electric power steering with no power steering pump.
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