Hey everyone,
I'm working on replacing the front brakes on my '76, and with that replacing the front wheel bearings. Everything I've read says to grease the inner area between the inner and outer race. My question is how much grease to use? Seems like there was quite a bit in there when I was removing the old stuff. Any tips or tricks for this process would be helpful!

Thanks,
Raymond

 

The extra grease there just takes up space and rarely will get to the bearings. I usually pack the bearings good and put a big dollop in the void between the races, never a problem.

 

'75 thanks for the info! That's what I figured but wanted to make sure not to mess anything up.

 

Hopefully you are familiar with packing bearings with grease, if not it would be helpful to watch a u-tube video about hand packing the grease to the bearing.

 

I'm semi-familiar. This will be my first attempt at it. I've watched some videos and read a lot of threads about it. Picked up a bearing packer from Advanced Auto, but got the tub of grease instead of the tube for the gun...rookie mistake. Will work on packing the bearing tomorrow then installing everything. I also have to replace the brake hose and immediate brake line because they broke during removal, now have to wait for those parts to come in before I can wrap it all up.

 

You don't need a bearing packer to pack bearings.

Do it by hand, there must be youtube videos on that too.

 

Since this is your first front bearing work, some advice. Make sure your new bearings are clean and when you pack them, either by hand or packer, they also are clean. Fit your nut on the spindle first, with the rotor off. Sometimes there is a burr around the cotter pin hole and you don't want to roll the threads. If you haven't replaced the races yet, they can be driven out no problem. When I do the fronts I replace the felt washer in the back of the plate, this is not necessary for routine maintenance but if you were cleaning and painting the spindle and arms you could. With your bearings packed put them on a clean piece of plastic so you don't drop them or get them dirty. If you do drop a bearing cone, replace it.

Are you replacing the rotors or are they still riveted on the hubs? If you have the rotors off, dress around each rivet hole, since the hubs are soft they will "lift" around the holes a little and this can cause a high spot = runout in the rotor. Dress the inside of the rotor hat around the holes as well. Run your fingernail over the hole, you should not feel any lip or edge. I countersink them but you can dress them with a 90* die grinder and 2" wheel. When you are confident they are burr free spray them down with brake cleaner and run a film of grease on the inner race and lay in your greased bearing. Get your inner seal, I like CR/SKF's NAPA used to stock them under their name but I don't know if they still do, and clean the bore with acetone or brake cleaner. I also clean the OD of the seal and put a coat of RTV on it and place it on the bore. I have a piece of flat aluminum that covers the seal and I just tap it evenly into the bore. Grease the spindle and slide on your hub or hub/rotor. I do pack grease in between the bearing area but there is always many opinions on just how much or if it really does help lube the bearings. I won't get into that and will just tell you how I do them. I pack the grease to about the ID between the bearings. Slide on the outer bearing, the tabbed washer and snug the nut.

Now the book says to torque the nut o 12 ft/lbs while spinning the wheel forward. You can do that but I don't use a TW for this job. I spin the wheel and tighten the nut, then back it off, and tighten it again, I do this about 4 -5 times, then I snug the nut by hand and see where the cotter pin hole is. If less then 1/2 a flat I just back it off, pin it and check it. I set my front bearings like the rears for min endplay. If the pin hole doesn't line up just right you can take the nut off and rub it on a piece of 100 grit emery cloth, to dress it then check it again, this will change or "index" the position. I actually put them on my surface grinder and dress them but the emery will work, you don't want to remove much. When done tap on the cap and wash down the rotor with brake cleaner again. Now to do the job right, mount a dial indicator so you can check the rotor runout through 360*. I set mine to under .0025" but 003-005 is ok. If you have over that you need to address it if you are using stock lip seal calipers.

So you are changing the brake hoses, good deal. Don't forget to use new copper flat washers between the caliper and hose end.

I see you're in CT, so am I so if you have a problem let me know and I'll go over it with you.

 

GTR, thanks for all of the information!! So far I've only removed all the components to the driver side front. I just drilled out the rivets yesterday and separated the hub. I've cleaned out the hub and pushed out the race. I'm planning on packing the bearings today, if I get the time, and then start to put everything back on. I got all new rotors, calipers, pads and lines for the brakes. I'll keep you updated on the progress and will let you know if I have any questions!!