I am repacking the front wheel bearings tomorrow in the '58 444. I have some multi-purpose lithium grease loaded up in the gun. This grease has a drop point of 350 degrees farenheit. Will it be okay to use this or do I need to get a specific disc/drum brake wheel bearing grease with a higher temperature drop point?
By the way, I am in Virginia and probably will not be driving the car much once the restoration is complete - maybe 40 miles a week if that.

Thanks in advance,

Tony

I noticed there is a guy selling "Volvo reproduction" front wheel bearings on ebay for Buy it Now $49. Its hard to tell from his photo, but I can see "Volvo" stamped on the face, and it does not appear to also have "Mexico" stamped on it. I wonder if these are original SKF bearings?

You could email him and ask him where they're made.


click here for Volvo front wheel bearings on ebay

Tony,

BTW, here's an explanation how we ensured my bearings were preloaded correctly upon install. Maybe this will help you as well:

http://www.brickboard.com/RWD/index.htm?id=1060100

-B

Tony,

BTW, here's an explanation how we ensured my bearings were preloaded correctly upon install. Maybe this will help you as well:



-B

I would say that if your grease is clean, you are FINE and don't need to
worry about anything.
--
George Downs Bartlesville, Heart of the USA!

The dropping point is the temperature at which the grease will release its first drop of oil when tested per a standard ASTM test. 350 degrees F is a pretty high dropping point. No worries there - the grease does not to be any more thermally stable than this.

The only thing I wonder about is whether your lithium grease is designed for wheel bearings? If not, it may not have the correct anticorrosion additives(which will prevent the bearing metal races/balls from rusting), antioxidant additives (prevents the oil/thickener from breaking down due to interaction with oxygen), constistency (stiffness - what's its NLGI grade?), and load carrying character. That said, all of this would be less important to you, as like you said, you won't be driving the car that much.

A grease that channels well and releases oil is important in a wheel bearing application; it is the thin film of oil that prevents metal to metal contact, galling and wear. But probably the most important thing is to use a clean grease, as ~75% of bearings fail due to hard particles (particles harder than steel - like aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, AZ road dust..). When they do start to wear, they will make ugly noises, and you will know they are being chewed up.

I like Mobil 1, only cause it is a very "clean" grease (the oil used to make the grease is a synthetic, and the final grease product is ultra-filtered). This means less hard particles.

Belinda

Belinda,

Thanks for the reply.
Well, unfortunately I ended up packing the driver's side bearings with the multi-purpose lithium grease that I had in the gun, before reading your post. I'm now thinking that I will either repack this side, or experiment and keep this side as is but use the correct grease on the passenger's side.

Here are the specs for the grease that I used, off Plews' website:

Plews Multi-Purpose Lithium Grease
Grade: 1.5
NLGI #1-1/2
Drop Point (o F): 350
Water Washout: Very Good
4 Ball Weld (Kgf): N/A
4 Ball Scar (mm): N/A
Timken OK Load: N/A
Base: Lithium 12-Hyd. Stearate
Texture: Smooth
Color: Gray-Black

In contrast, here are the specs for their wheel bearing grease:

Plews Wheel Bearing Grease
Grade: 2
NLGI GC-LB, NLGI #2
Drop Point (o F): 520
Water Washout: Excellent
4 Ball Weld (Kgf): 500
4 Ball Scar (mm): 0.51
Timken OK Load: 60
Base: Polyurea
Texture: Smooth
Color: Aqua

And for further comparison, here is the Mobil 1 bearing grease specs that you spoke of:

Mobil 1 Synthetic Grease
NLGI Grade 2
Thickener Type: Lithium Complex
Color, Visual: Red
Penetration, Worked, 25 ºC, ASTM D 217: 280
Dropping Point, ºC, ASTM D 2265: 280 (536 o F)
Viscosity of Oil, ASTM D: 445
cSt @ 40ºC: 220
Timken Test, ASTM D 2509: 60
4 Ball Wear Test, ASTM D 2266, scar dia, mm: 0.4
4 Ball EP Test, ASTM D 2596, Weld Load, Kg: 315
Corrosion Protection, ASTM D 1743: Pass
Water Washout, ASTM D 1264, % @ 79ºC: 4

Thanks,

--
Tony

1958 P444 (44408), ID 187797 : See site for info

2000 V70XC AWD/SE

Visit Scarola's PV Register

A set of wheel bearings costs what, $50? Since its already packed (assuming its packed well), I would just leave that grease in there and do the experiment. It would be cool to know whether the grease with the additives outperforms the grease without. But that's just me. :)

So, you will want to keep your ears tuned to wheel bearing "Grinding" frequencies in the next couple years... and if you hear something, if you're a purist you will want to tear down both sides, remove the grease, and inspect both sides for comparison, looking for any evidence of wear. Like:

http://www.timken.com/industries/automotive/autoaftermarket/techtips/TechTipsVol3Issue2-2005.pdf

Depending on the quality of the bearings, if they are SKF (original Volvo - #1!), Barden/FAG (German- good), American (Timken - marginal), Japanese (?), or worse Chinese bearings, there may be hard particles in there anyway - no matter what grease you put in there, the bearings are going to get chewed up cause the bearing manufacturers left those nasty buggers in there! The particles that affect these bearings are microscopic, so you can't see them, they are typically imbedded in the races or balls, and are Very difficult to clean out.


belidna

Maybe it's just here in SoCal, but I'm having to look increasingly farther afield to find wheel bearings I feel I can trust. I recently bought a set at NAPA. The box had SKF printed on it(roughly: Swedish Bearing Factory = da'kine to use!!)

But, when I looked at the actual bearings, they were marked "Made in China"!!!
The counter guys didn't even seem embarrassed by this "bait and switch" ("Oh, they ALL come from China now, or Hungary, or India, or"). So, the question is; does anyone have a reliable connection for SKF, or German bearings? Timkin I'm willing to trust as well. Merry days, all

Actually, no. I researched this thoroughly at one point, as I was looking for some good replacement wheel bearings for my car. Here's what I came up with:

Several folks are selling P1800/122/544/444 wheel bearings that have
SKF "Mexico" stamped on them; all are roughly the same price (since these were the same type as what I took off the front of my 1957 PV, I didn't bother to replace themm with the same as they still looked pretty good, ie, not worn):

http://replacement.swedishpartsshop.com/parts/swedishpartsshop/wizard.jsp?year=1965&make=VO&model=122--001&category=K&part=Wheel%20Bearing%20Kit&returnurl=null&dp=false

http://www2.swedishpartswholesale.com/parts/parts1/swedishpartswholesale/wizard.jsp?year=1965&make=VO&model=1800--001&category=K&part=Wheel+Bearing+Kit&dp=false


Skandix USA is selling Japanese Koyo's for a bit cheaper (I bought one set of these and inspected them)
www.skandix.com
1000912 273160 wheel bearing kit front all 122, P1800 and PV544 cars
45,00$ complete bearing kit including modern type oil seal

Swedish Treasures is selling these as well, although you can't see the type based on their photo (?)
273160 Front wheel bearing set 1957-70 set $55.09

I also bought a cheap Chinese "CAM" front bearing set (~$12?), but have not had a chance to compare it to the others yet.

Seems like I saw Timken's on ebay awhile back, and even SKF NOS at one point?
---------------------------------------------


Here's a link to those Timken articles that explain why setting the preload correctly is so important. The guy who installed them on my car prior to me forgot to shim the back bearings, and they have severe spalls in the races. Eventually, I need to replace them (like soon).

Isssue 3 - Preload in Wheel Bearings

"The benefits of a light and controlled preload
bearing setting are negated if bearing preload force
is excessive. Excessive preload can cause high
operating temperatures, reduced lubricant life,
reduced seal life, and premature bearing damage.
Bearing lock-up and/or wheel end separation may
occur if the preload force is excessive.
The benefits of a light and controlled preload
bearing setting are negated if bearing preload force
is excessive. Excessive preload can cause high
operating temperatures, reduced lubricant life,
reduced seal life, and premature bearing damage.
Bearing lock-up and/or wheel end separation may
occur if the preload force is excessive."


http://www.timken.com/cgi-bin/MsmGo.exe?grab_id=0&EXTRA_ARG=GRAB_ID%3D26%00%26EXTRA_ARG%3D%00%26HOST_ID%3D42%00%26PAGE_ID%3D4457216%00%26HIWORD%3DBEARIN%2520BEARINGO%2520ROLLED%2520roller%2520ROLLERS%2520PRELOADOR%2520preload%2520PRELOADED%2520PRELOADING%2520PRELOADS%2520BEARI%2520bearing%2520BEARINGOS%2520BEARINGS%2520ROLLERED%2520&CFGNAME=MssFind.cfg&host_id=42&page_id=263&query=preload&hiword=preload%20PRELOADED%20PRELOADING%20PRELOADOR%20PRELOADS%20

Belinda,

Thanks again for all the help with regard to bearings & grease.
Please tell me more about this "cheap Chinese "CAM" front bearing set" that you purchased for ~$12. I believe this is what Olof recently sold me for ~$50 - although this was for both bearings and the grease/oil seal for an entire side.

Thanks,
Tony
--
Tony
1958 Volvo PV444 (44408)

hi tony,

Sorry, that was a typo. They are "Can bearings". Here's the website of the chinese manufacturer:

http://www.sbfcn.com/gsjj-e.htm

I'll try to trace back where I bought these for ya..

belinda

I looked in my pile of receipts, and it appears I bought my Koyo bearing (front set) and this Can bearing (front set) both from Skandix (one set in 4/2005 and one set in 1/2006).

I think they were advertising the Can set on ebay, so I got them very cheap cause I was the only person that bid on them - if my memory serves me right. I remember I emailed the guys at Skandix and I said: what's the deal with these bearings, why so cheap? These said something like, we're trying to get our name out there - don't worry these are quality bearings and we'd put them on our car! hmmmmmmm

Still. Being around the bearing business myself lately for work, I have seen some of the changes that are occuring and they're dramatic. So, I did not trust these over my original SKF's (even if they were made in Mexico). Maybe I'm being paranoid though.

-B