Anyone EVER repack their REAR wheel bearings?

[IdahoDoug]

I'm looking for a data point if so. What miles were on your truck when you repacked them, and what was the condition of the grease left in them, if any? This is for full floater 80s (but it would be interesting to hear from others).

Thanks!

DougM

 

[RavenTai]

I replaced mine shortly after purchase (~110K or so) original Toyota grease OEM/Koyo bearings, the grease around the bearings was completely blackened, the filler in the hub was kind of thicker than I would think it should be but color was good (beer color) the bearings were somewhat worn with a brushed look on the rollers and races, they could have been repacked reused but I had bought new Koyo's before the tear down so I replaced them,

no gear oil in the bearing, no loss of grease.

If you are really curious I can dig them out of the spares bin and take some pics at a later date, not happening tonight just finished 12hr shift, first OT in 4 or 5 years.

Wile we are talking about the full float bearings does anybody think the inner hub seal will hold gear oil like an American full float? Would be nice to reduce maintenance but may lead to changing the hub seals more often so you are back where you started.

 

[medtro]

I repacked mine at around 90,000 miles, no grease left. Bearings were in good condition, I reused them.

 

[RV80]

I pulled mine apart at around 230k's (142miles) and they were shagged. But it would depend on where you live and if you tow a boat etc. My car came from a coastal area so that didn't do the bearings any favours.

 

[OGBeno]

Doug:

Rookie2 and I did them in late March. I don't konw his miles, but mine were at 138K. The bearings looked fine--amazing considering most of the grease was pretty much gone.

THese rigs are tough indeed...now I have four wheel bearings as extras!!....

Best.
-onur
Akron, OH

 

[Bob_Garrett]

Repacked mine at approx 100k mi. Bearings still had some grease in them and were in good condition. The grease was yellowish colored and what was in the center of the hub had become hardened to the point that there were cracks in it. Wheel bearings were Timken rather than Koyo. Not sure if they were changed at some point or not. Since the truck had only 54k when I bought it, I would suspect that was not the case.

Bob

 

[Cosworth]

Went into my '94 at 136k miles and found Timkins and the original yellow waxy brg grease. The left side hub was a bit loose and 90w had infiltrated and washed the brgs, didn't look good! The right side axle seal was still doing its job and the brgs were in fair condition. I installed a fresh set of seals and Timkins packed with red Mobil1.

After fighting loose front brgs, I've returned the fishscale to the tacklebox. Instead, I seat the brg with 40 lb/ft, loosen and then apply 10 lb/ft +/- while aligning the notches.

Uh...I'm sorta new here...I suppose that I should throwdown with a and say something about meeting Junk's momma in the local biker bar......


Tracy
94 FZJ80 locks OME'd Slee'd ARB'd w/ stuff

 

[Romer]

Repacked mine at about 105K, did the front at 100K miles.

 

[Dusty]

repacked mine at about 110k. dont think they had been done by previous owner. There was grease but it was slury-seals needed replacement. much more easy than birfs

 

[Zen Dude]

I thought the oil in the rear end is what lubed the rear wheel bearings. Like everyother car.
Are they different? I didn't see anything in the maintanence manual on this.

 

[elmariachi]

I just serviced mine at 130K miles. The passenger rear seal was seeping but the bearings still had grease in them. The driver's side seal had been leaking for a while, most of the grease was gone. All bearings were in excellent shape. Both hubs were full of the yellow Toyota grease and it did not appear the hubs had ever been serviced. Bearings were Timken, as was the case on 4 other FJ-80 rear axles I have serviced since 1996.

I don't think I'd trust that hub seal to hold in the oil.

 

[RavenTai]

I thought the oil in the rear end is what lubed the rear wheel bearings. Like everyother car.
Are they different? I didn't see anything in the maintanence manual on this.

Depends on year, if you have a semi-floater, witch FJ-80's and some early FZJ-80's with drum brakes do, then yes the bearings are lubed by gear lube,

The later FZJ-80's with rear disks and ABS have a full floating rear and the bearings are sealed from the gear lube and have their own bearing grease,

 

[slambson]

(but it would be interesting to hear from others).

DougM

I'll be the first 'other' did my semi-floating last year at ~185K. Great shape. Probably didn't need changed but I was replacing a seal and changing what Toyota calls a pinion shaft etc.... Minor amount of wear although the drivers side may have been changed as there was no washer (limits fluid flow) on the one side. As I recall that was the nature of my first posting here.

 

[CreeperSleeper]

Uh...I'm sorta new here...I suppose that I should throwdown with a and say something about meeting Junk's momma in the local biker bar......

ROFLMAO.... I thought of doing that after being on here about a week!

BTW: Welcome

 

[IdahoDoug]

Excellent stuff. I'll be doing my bro in law's rear wheel bearings in the next couple months. It's at 288,000 miles and likely never touched so will be an interesting look-see.

DougM

 

[cruiserdan]

I serviced my rear axle on 6-22-03 with 110,707 miles on the clock (you should see my service log )

The LH side was washed with gear oil (long side axle by the way) and the RH side was black grease. The parking brake shoes were fine. I am lazy and I prefer to replace the wheel bearings as opposed to cleaning, inspecting and re packing them (especially as I tow a large boat on a regular basis and the rear axle goes for a swim often as a result) So I replaced them. Interestinly enough the ones that had been swimming in gear oil looked surprisingly good.
My future service intervals will be at the 30k mark. Do be CERTAIN to replace the axle shaft seals any time you pull an axle shaft. They are cheap and good insurance.

D-

 

[IdahoDoug]

Agree on the axle seal. Literally takes a single gentle pry to remove them (easy access), and a half dozen gentle taps to seat the new one - 60 seconds and a $7 part.

Looks like I'll be doing this again next week on the other truck, and my bro in law's. Curiousity got the better of me to see how Mobil1 held up for 60,000 miles with lots of heavy towing.

DougM

 

[robbie]

fThe one thing to really look at on the long intervals is that the inner bearing will start to spin if too loose and will then machine a new surface on the spindle that is not really wanted. This can lead to a problem in that the spindle is welded to the axle and can not be replaced normally. this leads to replacing the whole axle housing(not a pretty sight). I have seen a truck with 180kmiles with no prior rear axle service and the bearing looked good and the spindle was screwed up and will be sercivable if the bearing are maintained at a better service interval. later robbie

 

[cruiseroutfit]

.... Interestinly enough the ones that had been swimming in gear oil looked surprisingly good...

There are a few guys that have skipped the inner axle seal and made sure they had a good axle shaft flange seal and inner hub seal. Never really did hear how they turned out. I would be interested to know. Most domestic FF stuff uses the same gearlube for both the diff & the wheel bearings, no reason it shouldn't work with the Toyota...

DevreuxDog (sp?) was doing this on his 60 series FF (very similar workings as the 80 series unit.

 

[IdahoDoug]

I haven't looked into it, but it's my assumption that a bearing grease (vs oil) is engineered to handle the high pressures of a loaded low speed bearing such as the rears on an FF, where gear oil being thinner doesn't provide that level of protection for high metal to metal pressure. I would be interested in hearing whether this is in fact true. After all, I'd think that the gear oil is handling some pretty high pressures with the diff gears, etc. Dunno.

I know of at least one other 80-ish application where Toyota chooses grease and another mfr switched to gear oil. Land Rover (I know, I know) switched to gear oil in their birfields at some point years ago. Wouldn't it be nice to change out your birfs by removing a drain plug and filling it like a differential? Of course, there are some down sides to the LR approach, but just another data point.

As Robbie points out, my rear bearings did get a bit loose and put some machined marks on the rear spindle/axle housing. This was on the 93, which was used for some heavy towing with just gear oil (washed all grease out) in the rear bearings for a couple years. I didn't seem to have any trouble getting the bearings to set up correctly when I repacked them, but as mentioned above curiosity has now taken hold and Cdan's sending me a rear seal kit so I can dig in and have a look see. Will post results.

OTOH, that machining damage happened by 90,000 miles yet my 97 had 137,000 with oil - washed bearings and not a trace of a mark. So, some evidence to attribute that damage to the presence of gear oil (vs specc'd grease) when the vehicle's being used heavily on the rear axle. My 97 was just a mall cruiser, and rear bearings awash in gear oil may be just fine based on my findings, but I wouldn't tow with it like that.

DougM

DougM