67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

[Clem Z.]

Re: 67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

I fixed a set of arms with grease fitting's in them about 25 years ago. I also drilled a small vent hole in the top so that I could vent them rather than blow the seal out. Been driving that suckah since then with no problems.

One thing to keep in mind, if you do it, always use the same grease, some greases are incompatable.

that is the reason i take out the spring and ball check in the grease fitting because after filling the cavity with grease when you remove the grease gun the extra grease and pressure come back out the grease fitting. "bearing buddies" that are used on trailer wheels to grease them use a "pop off" vent so you know when the cavity is full of grease

[Joe L.]

Re: 67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

I fixed a set of arms with grease fitting's in them about 25 years ago. I also drilled a small vent hole in the top so that I could vent them rather than blow the seal out. Been driving that suckah since then with no problems.

One thing to keep in mind, if you do it, always use the same grease, some greases are incompatable.

Dick-----


You bet there are incompatibilities with different greases and this is one of the big problems with just "adding" grease---you might not know what was put in there to begin with or what was put in there the last time.

Incompatible greases, which usually involves incompatible SOAPS, causes a condition called "bleeding". This vastly reduces the effectiveness of the lubricant. This is not a well understood phenomenon in automotive circles because most use of grease in automotive applications is for low speed sort of components. However, wheel bearings are one of the primary exceptions for automotive. Folks in industrial applications usually understand the problem of grease incompatibilities very well.

[Joe L.]

Re: 67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

'63 Shop Manual: Repack front and rear wheel bearings at 30,000
'64 Shop Manual: Rear bearings are lube-for-life feature

I think what happened here is that the '63 rear bearings were a slip fit assembly, and you could disassemble them. There were a lot of bearing problems, and they soon became a press fit. I'm not sure what was done to make them Lube-for-life, but lasting from 1967 to 2008 ain't bad!

Mike-----


That's exactly what I think happened. After the bearings became press fit, GM realized that as a maintenance procedure, re-packing the REAR wheel bearings was going to be an expensive proposition for the car owner. Imagine (using today's dollars as a reference point), someone going into a Chevy dealership to have his wheel bearing re-packed and told they'd re-pack the front bearings for $59.95, flat rate, but strictly time-and materials for the rear with an initial estimate of $600 for the job!

Besides, they were 100% correct when they said or implied the rear bearings were "Lubed for Life". You'll note there was no definition of the term "life". In practice, "life" is defined as the point when the wheel bearings fail. So, the bearings are "lubed-for-life; they are lubed at the factory and they "live" until they fail. That's the end of their life.

[Joe L.]

Re: 67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

how about drilling a 1/16" hole down the center of the spindle deep enought to reach the center between the 2 bearings. then you drill a 1/16" hole 90 degrees to the first hole and put a zerk fitting in the face of the spindle so you can put in grease from a grease gun. this is the way i set up all my off road dirt bikes and quads so i could grease the wheel bearing without having to take everything apart. i remove the spring and check ball from the zerk fitting so it can relieve the pressure after filling with grease and then i put a plastic snap on cap over the zerk fitting to keep out the dirt and water

clem-----


As JR mentions, there are quite a few rear spindle bearing greasing "schemes" that folks have devised over the years. One of the more interesting is the one performed by some folks calling themselves "The Spindle People" or some such name. I believe what they do is to drill holes through the top of the spindle bearing chamber centered on the middle of the outer races and right through the outer race. They install TWO of these, one for the outer bearing and one for the inner bearing. On the outer ends of the holes, they drill and tap for zerk fittings. Uisng this method, one is able to inject the grease directly into the bearing cage. It's one of the more innovative approaches to this I've seen. They claim this is a patented procedure which surprises me because I didn't think that any REPAIR procedure is patentable. Maybe there's some "fine point of law" involved here, though.

So, what do I think of the above? I think it's creative and one of the better procedures out there to mod the spindle bearing assemblies for easier servicing but I'd never use it for at least 4 reasons:

1) Although I believe they recommend the injection of only a few ounces of grease into each fitting, it's really very difficult to know the amount that's required. One might add too little or too much;

2) I really don't think this is an effective way to ensure that the bearing is FULLY packed. It assumes the complete circumferential travel of the grease through the entire 360 degrees of the bearing. This may not occur using this method no matter how one does it;

3) As Dick describes in his response and I wholeheartedly concur, there's always the potential of injecting a grease that's incompatible with whatever was used the previous time. This can have serious consequences for a high speed and high heat application like a wheel bearing on a disc brake-equipped vehicle;

4) Most important of all, it has the same fundamental flaw as all of the other "external bearing packing schemes"------the bearings never get cleaned of old grease and contaminants prior to the "re-packing". I would NEVER repack a bearing without thoroughly cleaning it first.

[Paul L.]

Re: 67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

Chuck,

Funny thing from the incident

As I skidded to the shoulder in a billow of smoke from the left rear, my partner and I exited the car so fast, I forgot the 3 point fire extinguisher which was conveniently placed in back of the passenger seat.

We got pretty far from the car as we thought the car was on fire. I then went back to retrieve the fire extinguisher, but by that time I realized I didn't need it.

Luckily, I had some Pepto-Bismol with me

How much are new Jockey's at Wal-Mart?

[Patrick H.]

Re: 67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

Besides, they were 100% correct when they said or implied the rear bearings were "Lubed for Life". You'll note there was no definition of the term "life". In practice, "life" is defined as the point when the wheel bearings fail. So, the bearings are "lubed-for-life; they are lubed at the factory and they "live" until they fail. That's the end of their life.

I had a good laugh after reading this one!

Patrick

[Gerard F.]

"Lubed for Life"

I think in 1967, "Life" mean't 5 years or 50,000 miles. At least by my warranty booklet, rear bearings were warranted for 5 years or 50,000 miles (whichever is less).

My 67 owners manual has no schedule for lubing the rear bearings. Although for the front bearings it says, "Clean and repack front bearings with high melting point wheel bearing lubricant whenever the wheel and hub are removed", it says nothing about the rear bearings. Neither does the 67 service manual in the lubrication section.

Glad I got 41 years and 65,000 miles on mine, but I guess they were out of warranty, and beyond their lifetime

[Bill M.]

Re: 67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

I'm not sure what was done to make them Lube-for-life, but lasting from 1967 to 2008 ain't bad!

The Restorer Vol. 5, no. 3, pp.29-33 has a copy of the TSB (DR 599) that details the changes made to provide lube-for-life capability. All they did was go to press-fit bearings and 100 lb-ft (up from 50 lb-ft) of torque on the spindle nut. (New parts were the spindle, the spindle flange, and the spindle nut washer.) I see no mention of seal or grease upgrades!

[Joe L.]

Re: 67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

The Restorer Vol. 5, no. 3, pp.29-33 has a copy of the TSB (DR 599) that details the changes made to provide lube-for-life capability. All they did was go to press-fit bearings and 100 lb-ft (up from 50 lb-ft) of torque on the spindle nut. (New parts were the spindle, the spindle flange, and the spindle nut washer.) I see no mention of seal or grease upgrades!

Bill-----


Neither the seals nor the grease were changed at that time. I think what happened when the change to press fit bearings occurred was the realization that with the revised assembly it was no longer practical to perform routine maintenance (i.e. bearing re-pack). So, by DECLARATION, they "redefined" the assembly as "Lubed For Life".

[Wayne W.]

Re: 67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

There was a change in the housing design which consisted of removing the recessed reservoir for the grease. The housing inside had straight sides which would hold what grease was inside the cavity up at the level of the bearing. I guess this was in theory a way to keep what was left of the grease in contact with the bearings.

[Joe L.]

Re: 67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

There was a change in the housing design which consisted of removing the recessed reservoir for the grease. The housing inside had straight sides which would hold what grease was inside the cavity up at the level of the bearing. I guess this was in theory a way to keep what was left of the grease in contact with the bearings.

Wayne-----


Yes, I believe the modification to the housing internal design occurred sometime during the 1974 model year, which was the last year of the 3820643 casting housing. Attached are photos of several NOS housings. Note the following :

-----A GM #3820643 housing with a cast date of H 29 3 (August 29, 1973). If this housing had been used in PRODUCTION, it would have been used on an early 1974. Note that it is the "hollow" design housing. I have several NOS examples all dated prior to this time and all have the "hollow" housing;

----- A GM #3820643 housing with a cast date of G 10 4 (July 10, 1974). If this housing had been used in PRODUCTION, it would have been used on a very late 1974. Note that it has the "solid" design housing;

----- A GM #348103 housing with a cast date of D 02 5 (April 2, 1975). If used in PRODUCTION, this housing would have been used on a mid-1975. Note that it also has the "solid" housing. I have several more of the 348103 and all are "solid" housings.

Note also that the late 1974 3820643 housing and the mid-75 348103 housings both have a pattern number of "9". The other examples of the 348103 that I have also have the pattern number "9". It may be that this was the pattern number that was modified for the "solid" housing and then later modified again for the large boss fork ends. Of course, it may be that other pattern numbers were also used for the "solid" housings and all of mine just happen to be pattern "9".

It's good that this change in the housing design is entirely internal. That way, no one ever needs to worry about having this feature judged.

[Joe L.]

Re: "Lubed for Life"

I think in 1967, "Life" mean't 5 years or 50,000 miles. At least by my warranty booklet, rear bearings were warranted for 5 years or 50,000 miles (whichever is less).

My 67 owners manual has no schedule for lubing the rear bearings. Although for the front bearings it says, "Clean and repack front bearings with high melting point wheel bearing lubricant whenever the wheel and hub are removed", it says nothing about the rear bearings. Neither does the 67 service manual in the lubrication section.

Glad I got 41 years and 65,000 miles on mine, but I guess they were out of warranty, and beyond their lifetime

Jerry----


The photo below shows the difference between the boss size for the 63-74 bearing housing and the 75-82 housing. I think your new arms may be the 75-82 style.

[Gerard F.]

Re: "Lubed for Life"

Joe,

Correct as usual, I have the later style with 1-3/4" bosses vs 1-1/2" on the originals.

Here's some shots of the failed assembly:

Inner Bearing:



Broken Spindle shaft:



The shaft is frozen to the spindle flange.

Outer Bearings:



The bearing spacer looks like it is part of the shaft or welded to it. The outer bearings turn freely and still seem to have some grease on them.

[Joe L.]

Re: "Lubed for Life"

Joe,

Correct as usual, I have the later style with 1-3/4" bosses vs 1-1/2" on the originals.

Here's some shots of the failed assembly:

Inner Bearing:



Broken Spindle shaft:



The shaft is frozen to the spindle flange.

Outer Bearings:



The bearing spacer looks like it is part of the shaft or welded to it. The outer bearings turn freely and still seem to have some grease on them.

Jerry-----


One thing to note is the "cone shape" of the spindle remnant. I have seen this exact same "failure configuration" on several other failed spindle bearing assemblies.

I think that most of the parts will be salvageable. Disassembly should not be too hard thanks to the severed spindle shaft. You can separate the rotor from the spindle flange by drilling out the rivets. This can now be done in a drill press making it easier than if the unit were installed on the car.

The parking brake assembly should be easily removable now and then you can remove the four nuts securing the bearing housing to the trailing arm. Now, you'll have the trailing arm free of everything else.

You MAY be able to remove the inner bearing outer race together with the "fused" inner bearing by beating on the outer race through the slots in the bearing housing. It may take one hell of a beating to get them out. Or, if necessary, you could try it with an hydraulic press. I'd recommend making up a tool so you could press on both sides of the outer race through the slots at the same time. It would not be too difficult to make us such a tool.

Once you get the inner race (and bearing) out, all you need to do is to remove the outer race of the outer bearing. Pound it out from the other side through the removal slots. This one should come out easier than the inner.

Now, you have the trailing arm, spindle bearing support, rotor, caliper bracket, and parking brake assembly all disassembled and ready for clean-up and restoration.

Next, remove the spindle shaft "stub" from the spindle flange. To do this, remove the cotter pin and nut from the end of the shaft. Then, with the flange secured in a vice, beat on the end of the shaft. It should come out rather easily but it depends upon just how much "heat fusing" has taken place. If this doesn't work, I'd set it up in an hydraulic press and go that way for removal.

When all is said-and-done, you should be able to save all parts except the spindle, bearings, spacer, and shim.

Let us know how it turns out when you get around to this.

[Gerard F.]

Did it this afternoon

Joe,

Here's my 67 production bearing housing for comparison with others you posted:



I finally separated it from the trailing arm, what a job. It was frozen to the arm. Lots of PB blaster and brute force. I probably could not have gotten the housing off with the arm on the car.

Here's the parts:



I was able to get to the control arm nuts without removing the parking brake mechanism, a 9/16" socket fit nicely between the shoes. I wonder why they didn't put holes through the rotor and spindle to get to these nuts. Would have made it a lot easier to pull the assembly, with the arm on the car. I guess the holes would be too big, and you would windup losing your lockwasher in the parking brake assembly.

Here's the culprit:



It was the inner bearing. See those little deformed pieces of metal in the picture. They were once cylindrical bearings and seem to fit the shape of the break in the spindle.

All in all, I'm glad I'm going to new trailing arm assemblies. Got to be the most efficient (and least costly) way to get back on the road. Will probably keep these parts for posterity.