When swapping out the center bearing in one of my 88s, I noticed that the new one came packed with grease, and the old one was dry as a bone. Since the support bearing has no seal other than a little splash plate, and is essentially open to the elements, I can't help but wonder if the reason these bearings go out so often is a lack of lubrication. After all there would be far less friction on these bearings than on wheel bearings, which will usually last the life of a car if they are packed with grease periodically. I know that spraying WD40 or PB Blaster will temporarily quiet a noisy center bearing, but I'm wondering if anybody has had good experience using some other method of lubing the center bearing in a more permanent fashion.

Would it be worth a try to pack some wheel bearing grease in there while it is on the vehicle? Or, since it's probably not a high temperature application, would motor oil work? How about white lithium grease?