Consensus-Greasing Wheel Bearings (ABS Port)

[Andyba20]

The subject has been covered for years, but even on this site I’ve never seen a consensus reached regarding the feasibility of greasing our wheel bearings through the ABS sensor port. I read a lot the past few hours and I really don’t see there being a debate anymore. The argument has always been “you can’t grease a sealed unit”, well tell that to my ABS sensor hole. Our bearing housing is sealed on the outside ends, the inner bearings are not sealed and the abs tone ring is between the inner and outer bearing, so greasing the bearings through the ABS hole will get grease to the bearings. Some have mentioned possible ABS sensor issues from grease getting on the tone ring, but I haven’t read of anyone actually having a problem, plus you can just spin the hub and wipe the grease off the ring with a flathead screwdriver or something similar. I’m reading where some guys are using a mix of 75/25 grease and 140/75 gear oil with no issues reported. I haven’t found any definitive information on how much grease to pump in, but as preventative maintenance I’d think even just 5-10 pumps could do nothing but help.

This is not intended to bring an already damaged/worn bearing back to life, but as part of semi regular maintenance to keep the bearings healthy.
 

So, can we finally agree that this is a valid way to extend the life of our wheel bearings? Or does someone have something to say?

[JAG1]

Dieselfuture is one person that used to do that. The way he took care of his truck is a nice bunch of diligent work too. I know he didn't have any problems either. He absconded from the website or something anyway because we haven't seen him on for many months now.

[Andyba20]

Yes, he was one of the first to actually tap the housing and add a zerk fitting. I will probably just use the ABS sensor hole. Drilling for the fitting requires some precision and care to avoid getting any shavings into the bearings. Fittings definitely make future maintenance easier compared to having to remove wheels/brakes/rotors to get to the ABS hole, but it’s not something I’d be doing very often anyway. 

[W-T]

The size of these photos are poor...

I don't recall where I copied these from but, it was back in 2009

I believe this was from TDR and one of the members had drilled and tapped the housings to insert a Zerk fitting

 

I've always wanted to perform this modification...once the fire hit, my shop was eliminated just as I was in the ready to perform the task  

I strongly feel this particular effort is worth while.

 

W-T

[Andyba20]

Agreed. From what I gather, the issue seems to be quality control with aftermarket bearings. Meaning, some seem to come fully greased and others maybe didn’t get enough at the factory. I replaced my bearings about 40,000 miles ago with Napa hub/bearing assemblies. I never thought to look inside to check grease levels or anything. That’s why I think this is a good idea, even if you only do it every 50,000 miles. 
 

So it looks like me, @JAG1 and @W-T vote yes on this…who else wants to step up? 

[AH64ID]

I greased the ones on my ‘18, and will do the same on my ‘22. It’s easy and cheap to hopefully extend bearing life. I plan to do it every 30K miles. 
 

I also plan to pull the brakes apart and clean/grease the sliding pins at the same interval. They froze up on my 05 and caused uneven pad wear. 

[Andyba20]

At this point I’m about ready to say it’s negligent if you don’t do this. 

[AH64ID]

I wouldn’t go that far. Plenty of people get adequate service life from their bearings without ever greasing them. 

[JAG1]

1 hour ago, AH64ID said:

I wouldn’t go that far. Plenty of people get adequate service life from their bearings without ever greasing them. 

I'm doing an experiment on the work truck. I'm using Timken on the left side and on the right I'm using an odd brand that O'Reilly's sells. Both changed out the same time I hope we have to wait a long time for the results even though I'm not greasing them. I saved the boxes they came in so I would know the brands.

 

Where is DieselFuture?

[Mopar1973Man]

Be aware when the graphite levels build up in the grease it will trip a ABS light that will not go away till the bearing is replaced. 

 

Being there is no way to clean it out nor repack properly all you can do is replace.

[Andyba20]

2 questions. There’s grease in them already, so wouldn’t that happen either way? And would that explain why some are doing the grease/gear oil mix? To mitigate wear?

[AH64ID]

16 minutes ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Be aware when the graphite levels build up in the grease it will trip a ABS light that will not go away till the bearing is replaced. 

 

Being there is no way to clean it out nor repack properly all you can do is replace.

Have you seen this? 
 

I have not read about one issue associated with greasing the sealed bearings. 

[Mopar1973Man]

Yup. I've cleaned one up getting all the graphite grease out of the tone wheels and replaced another because is was packed full of graphite grease. (Both bearings). ABS lights went out after replacement.

 

Remember the sensor is looking for tone wheel to count pulses bur as the graphite builds the pulses change and error between sensors build up... poof ABS light is set.

[AH64ID]

Sounds more like the wrong grease was being used. 
 

I’ll have to see if the wheel bearing grease I use contains graphite, but I doubt it as it’s designed for applications with tone rings. 

[Andyba20]

Ok so what kind of grease do they come packed with? The answer would be to use the same stuff…no different than using the correct engine oil or gear oil or brake fluid.

 

Mike-were they the original bearings? How many miles? Did the owner add grease through the ABS hole? If so, why, bc the bearing making noise or getting hot?

[LorenS]

17 hours ago, AH64ID said:

Sounds more like the wrong grease was being used.

Sounds about right. Graphite is a decent electrical conductor.

 

75W-140 gear oil seems awfully thin for this application (thinking seal leaks, not that it can't provide good lubrication), but it's hard to argue if others have had good results.

[Andyba20]

From what I gather it’s a 75/25 mixture. So 75% bearing grease and 25% gear oil. 

[AH64ID]

5 minutes ago, Andyba20 said:

From what I gather it’s a 75/25 mixture. So 75% bearing grease and 25% gear oil. 

I missed that in your first post. 
 

That’s not something I’ve read about, and personally wouldn’t do. Plain old wheel bearing grease is fine. 

[Andyba20]

I’ll likely just use grease too, just wanted to add that as part of the record. Also, here is a picture of an assembly someone cut open, shows access to the bearings. 

[Andyba20]

6 hours ago, AH64ID said:

That’s not something I’ve read about, and personally wouldn’t do. Plain old wheel bearing grease is fine. 

Here are a few of the threads I saw discussing the gear oil options. I think the idea is either 1.) the thinner gear oil gets in the inner part of the bearing easier/quicker, or 2.) gear oil cools better?