<VV> Greasing axle bearings

[Chris & Bill Strickland]

>I'm a little fuzzy on what exactly the difference in procedure between the 
>riveted and the cast type bearings is.
>

The earlier stamped steel shells "meet in the middle" so that when you 
separate the shells, basically you have half the bearing (one race) in 
each shell, and if the axle is out, you can easily remove the inside set 
of rollers and hold them in your hand.

The cast shell basically holds both halves of the bearing, with a cover 
to retain the seal and bearing, and no purchase from which to get any of 
the pieces into your hand.  Anybody know why they made this change?

Pressing old bearings off, if they are still good and tight, often 
breaks the pulling ring that is part of the bearing -- I think Clark's 
sells new ones -- and in terms of using a standard hydraulic press, 
often 30 tons is needed (sometimes overnight) to move or install a 
bearing, especially an FC one. 

Early Corvair rear axle bearings, if you haven't had one apart, look 
like a pair of  standard tapered roller bearings (they aren't) 
sandwiched back to back on a shared central inner race, ultimately held 
together by the four backing plate bolts. The only space available to 
install a zirk is in the free space to the inside or outside of the 
bearing assembly, which, if used, would not put any new grease into the 
early bearing assembly, but just fill the space in the shell with grease 
for the brakes -- sort of like putting a zirk in the rubber boot of a 
front end ball joint.

Putting a zirk in the LM rear bearing housing is mostly akin to greasing 
the clutch cross shaft in a manual tranny car -- grease everywhere, but 
rarely to both pivots.  Greased hubs need air space for the grease to 
flow to when it gets hot and melted -- no space, and it is forced out 
past the seals.  Once the seals are "breached" like this, not only does 
the grease continue to flow out, but water and such flows into the bearings.

Early or late, forget the zirks -- just disassemble, clean and repack 
with good modern synthetic grease, even if it seems like a pain to do -- 
or just forget about it and drive on, especially if you only do 500 
miles a year.

Bill Strickland