Front wheel bearing grease cap

[mike.perry]

The original question was "Is it necessary to remove the wheel to remove the grease cap?"
By the time you have read through this lot you could have removed the wheel and cap and done the job

[bmcecosse]

Exactly the point I was trying to make - to remove the bearings and repack them will be a big adventure for this lad......

[Mark Wilson]

Oh dear - I see trouble ahead.....

Isn't that the title of a quite catchy song? "There may be trouble ahead...."

Don't think it's the title - it's the first line of Nat King Cole's "Lets face the music and dance". Pity it's not something from "Grease"

[myoldjalopy]

The song you are thinking of is Irving Berlin's 'Let's Face the Music and Dance'

There may be trouble ahead
But while there's moonlight and music and love and romance
Let's face the music and dance
Before the fiddlers have fled
Before they ask us to pay the bill, and while we still have the chance
Lets face the music and dance
Soon, we'll be without the moon, hummin' a different tune, and then
There may be teardrops to shed
So while there's moonlight and music and love and romance
Let's face the music and dance

[philthehill]

Mike
During the process of this thread cannonfodder asked a reasonable question which was well within the scope of this thread; and which was related to the original post but which was dismissed with the statement "leave well alone".
My replies were a reasonable foil to that statement.
"Leave well alone" and "a big adventure for this lad" is making too many assumptions. Talk about putting someone down.
Phil

[bmcecosse]

No - it's just my advice to not get out of one's depth. And is based on this and other postings by cannon. I've seen it all too often happen on the forum over the years where people are led on well out of their comfort zone - quite unnecessarily.

[myoldjalopy]

To be honest, simply removing a hub cap and replenishing the grease should not be outside anyone's 'comfort zone'. That's all we are talking about here, not replacing wheel bearings.

[bmcecosse]

Exactly my point - but it has grown beyond that - removing the bearings and regreasing - which can easily end in tears if the bearing falls apart - not an unknown occurrence.

[ManyMinors]

Where in this thread did anyone suggest they were intending to remove the bearings - or do anything other than that suggested in the car manufacturers handbook??

[les]

No one has mentioned removing the wheel bearings, Roy must have somehow though the OP was going to do that. To sort of start again, the cap can be removed with the wheel on but there would be more space with the wheel off. Prise it off with a sharpish flat screwdriver, working round the diameter. As mentioned, well within ones comfort zone.
.

[bmcecosse]

Quote from earlier.... " Old grease goes hard, does not melt and flow as it should. So my advice for what it is worth is remove the grease cap - see what the grease is like - if hard and not clean it is better to remove the hub and re-pack the hub and bearings."

[ManyMinors]

I don't read that as removing the bearings themselves I'm pretty sure that was not being suggested - and certainly not by the OP.

[les]

I'm getting confused here, advising removing bearings if grease is hard is fine but prior to that saying it could end in tears seems to contradict doing that. I think we're complicating the initial question here!

[bmcecosse]

I totally agree with the idea that hard grease should be removed/renewed where possible .... but pulling the hub off has been know to cause the bearings to come apart (never with me - but seems to happen to others...) - and for 'cannon' - I think this is an adventure too far at this stage. But hey-ho, I just do my best to keep posters on the straight and narrow - hence my 'Leave well alone' - could also be 'If it's not broken, don't fix it' !! Or 'Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere' which at one time was my screen motto. Maybe I need to put it back on......

[les]

No one ever suggested pulling the hub off in all of this thread. Are you taking over from Bigginger with this annoying quoting of Latin! It's so yesterday! Perhaps that last bit should be in the thread ' SO' as an often inserted naff saying!

[anthony2]

USE A WIDE WOOD CHISEL,WORK AROUND THE CAP BY TWISTING THE CHISEL.WORKS FOR ME.

[myoldjalopy]

Well, as the original poster of this thread I am bemused at its longevity! The first respondent answered my query very clearly, but it is obviously a topic of great fascination in the MM world!
Anyone else like to chip in, now with the sole purpose of keeping this thread alive and at the top? What else can be said about greasing these bearings?
Pete

[bmcecosse]

As I have already pointed out - removing the hub (which IS suggested - and some seem to need a 'puller' to do this) sometimes seems to cause the bearings to fall apart - something to avoid if not sure what to do...

[philthehill]

60 year old grease is well past its use by date and is overdue for replacement.
Old grease goes hard, does not melt and flow as it should. So my advice for what it is worth is remove the grease cap - see what the grease is like - if hard and not clean it is better to remove the hub and re-pack the hub and bearings. If the grease behind the cap looks reasonable scrape out what you can without disturbing the hub/bearings and refill with new grease at the same amount as removed.
You cannot over maintain moving parts that require lubrication between the interacting parts.
Phil

Re the above quote and the tangential reference to removing the hub!
If the grease is hard and does not flow you will not have to worry about the bearings falling apart if the hub is removed - the bearings will fall apart of its own accord.
I have on several occasions seen bearings collapse with the loss of the wheel exactly because of the lack of flowing grease.
It should not be assumed that all is well within the hub and then ignore the service requirement. The only tell tale as to the condition of the grease without removing the complete hub is to remove the hub grease cap and see what the state of the grease that can be seen.
By all means forget about the grease in the hub but you do it at your peril.
BMC did not put that service requirement in its service schedule because it thought it would be nice but because it is required.
If the bearing collapsed and the loss of a wheel resulted in an accident and it was found that there was a complete lack of examination/servicing in accordance with the manufactures servicing schedule (even if that schedule is many years old) who knows what the outcome would be.
Even if you do your own maintenance keep a full record of what you have done noting the date and mileage as it may come in handy at a later date.
Phil

[mike.perry]

I am beginning to feel left out
The bearings on the Series MM are integral with the brake drum. I use sealed bearings as it is much less messy when removing the drums to work on the brakes.
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