MikeT Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 Fair bit of salt but not so much grit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesignerDave Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 As Strawboss mentioned, I find it really funny that Tolsen - of all people - would come on here and damage coins publicly! This is the guy that I have heard condemn others about virtually anything legal or ethical, whether it be driving the speed limit or fiddle with emissions systems. It has never been a capital crime to alter emissions systems, but it HAS been a capital crime to mess with currency, in your area anyway. As far using a "thick" oil in your bearings instead of grease, I know from my experience with spindle bearings which have very fancy soaps and thickeners in them, the oil will likely be fine in this application until it gets enough stuff in it to become a destructive grinding fluid. Grease when packed in the proper amount (which the OEM bearing company does) doesn't heat up too much from churning, while still has enough to keep oil where it needs to be. The grease that is away from the rolling elements can catch trace amount of foreign objects before it reaches the bearing if they somehow managed to get past the seals. Years ago I read an interesting paper on the failure rate of ball bearing units that had the ability to be greased vs non greased. If the proper break-in of the grease is not observed and the resultant churning heat is allowed to get high enough, the grease breaks down and there is a loss of lubrication early after the bearing is regreased. More is not better... With my NSK high precision matched CNC spindle bearings I had to use a little syringe to meter in the exact amount between balls for it's bearings. The main problem I see with the oil system is the effect on the environment when the seals start to leak and drip all over the road, causing untold motorcyclist crashes and causing your own bearings to fail soon after, possibly resulting in a locked wheel and horrible crash, also perhaps causing a fire and causing untold smoke damage to surrounding neighborhood homes curtains, which will all wind up in the landfill, next to all that extra wasted material from people that decided to use spin on oil filters on their Smarties against the stern advice of Tolsen. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tolsen Posted August 23, 2016 Author Share Posted August 23, 2016 Defacing any of the Queen's coins is still not legal but i do not face being hung, stretched or quartered. Section 10 of the Coinage Act of 1971 is very clear. It is indeed illegal to melt down, break up or drill a hole in any metal coin. I may face a fine not exceeding £400 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or both. The reason I used two pence coins was purely for convenience. I had to beef up the thickness of each dust cap so I could tap threads sufficiently strong to hold a screw. It is now seven years since I did that bearing mod. The bearings are still in good condition with no noise or play. Same applies to the rear bearings which were modified without committing any crime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tolsen Posted February 21, 2017 Author Share Posted February 21, 2017 Best way to make your wheel bearings last nearly forever is inject grease periodically. Beware a grease gun in the wrong hands can also quickly ruin the bearings by pushing the seals out of their sockets. New wheel bearings for the 450 are very cheap now starting just below £30 so no point attempting complex rebuilds requiring both special tools and skills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tolsen Posted February 21, 2017 Author Share Posted February 21, 2017 My gear oil turned out too thin for the oil seals and leaked out wetting inboard side of brake rotors resulting in eternal life inboard pads. Had to inject lithium grease and keep cleaning inboard side of rotors for a couple of months. Surprisingly, braking efficiency did not feel much reduced in spite of oil all over pads and rotors. I am still running on same front and rear bearings. Also on original rear brake shoes and drums. Renewed front pads not long ago. They were all rather thin about a mm left of friction material and annoying accoustic alarm whenever I touched brake pedal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tolsen Posted February 21, 2017 Author Share Posted February 21, 2017 (edited) All you can do is either renew or attempt a rebuild as described in this thread. Rebuild using outboard inner stationary race rings from two bad bearings. Also rebuild using both outboard bearing balls and cauges. Use best oil seal out of the two bearings and finally use best outer race rings out of the two. Edited February 21, 2017 by tolsen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeT Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 Weird. In 360,000 km of 450 motoring I have had one front wheel bearing get slightly noisy - changed under warranty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LooseLugNuts Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 yeah but i imagine vancouver island doesnt get much winter cold air to shrink seals and let the roadsalt in Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeT Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 Chewing that many bearings up leads me to suspect bent stub axles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tolsen Posted February 22, 2017 Author Share Posted February 22, 2017 With bent stub axle it will be impossible to get old bearing off so I doubt that is the case. Lack of proper procedures when changing bearing could be the cause for frequent bearing failures. Stub axle must be properly cleaned and suitably greased to allow bearing to slide on without use of hammers. Oil seal on front bearing is rather poor, similar in design to rubber oil seals on deep groove ball bearings. Seal area must be protected from the elements. Negligence to replace disintegrated splash guards means very short bearing life indeed. For that reason, on mine, I have fitted splash guards made out of plastic dishwasher safe soup plates. Splash guard in good condition ensures bearing seal area and ABS ring are shielded from the elements. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tolsen Posted April 1, 2018 Author Share Posted April 1, 2018 Have now corrected all broken Photobucket image links in this thread. I made this bearing mod about 8 years ago and I am still running on these modified bearings. The oil turned out a wee bit on the thin side for the worn inboard seal so I ended up greasing both bearings using an Oregon chain saw grease gun. Fitting grease nipples on the rear wheel bearings were done about same time. These bearings are also in a perfect condition in spite of having suffered through at least ten winters with salt treated roads. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tolsen Posted July 16, 2019 Author Share Posted July 16, 2019 Still on these modded front bearings and also on the modded rear bearings which were modified about same time. The Smart has now done 254,000 mainly problem free km since new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BWM Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 Since you are mixing oil with grease there's a product I use here in Canada called Corn head grease. It's basically grease but with a low viscosity. It gets pumped in with a grease gun but it will flow when hot. I have grease fittings on the dust caps of most of my trailers and a Coke pumps of grease every now and then has kept me from ever replacing a bearing on any of them, the boat trailer gets a shot everytime we take out the boat. Have never pushed out the back grease seal yet using this set up. I've also used this method on a number of cars and pickups over the yrs with the same results. About the only bearings on my own cars that ever got changed were front wheel drive ones that I couldn't do the grease nipple trick to them. Corn head grease can be used in a lot of places that use gear oil instead of full on grease. It's primary use was developed for corn heads on combines for the right angle gear box used to drive the head. Due to it being exposed to water and lots of dust they wear the seals quickly and the oil leaked out making them prone to early failure. Having changed one out is a 2-3 day job as the head has to be dismantled quite a ways to change it. By using the Corn head grease it kept the gear box bearings lubed without the oil leakage and now most of them last the life of the combine. I've used it now for yrs in golf cart differentials, garden tractor trans axles, right angle drive boxes and wheel bearings plus many other places as well. Still use regular grease on tie rods ball joints and king pins, gear oil in manual trans and rear automotive differentials. This is a great thread thanks for reposting it I'll be doing something similar to mine soon. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timohtay Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 On 6/3/2016 at 1:21 AM, tolsen said: Not much salt and grit on your roads Mike? Wowsers 250k? My car has 103k on it. So from original bearings to when I bought the car at 72k supposedly 1set. Now the last 30k, 3sets. Ya I dunno. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedder Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 Tolsen, I want to do this dust cap mod on the front of my smart. Question: do you omit installation of outboard seal to allow lubricant to access bearing and keep it wet, or is the lube able to penetrate thru seal to get to bearing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willys Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 I am semi late to the party, just curious, what is the dia. of said cap and compare that to the trailer cap we find on trailer axles? IF you can stand the look of a grease fed trailer auto grease cap we use, wouldn't this be best? Hmmm...? I have to go to the man's store soon anyway.....time to take calipers with me this time maybe..? Does the wheel fit over the cap also...? Something to ponder when rebuilding my front axle etc etc ready for long distance adventuring...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tolsen Posted December 17, 2019 Author Share Posted December 17, 2019 1 hour ago, Tedder said: Tolsen, I want to do this dust cap mod on the front of my smart. Question: do you omit installation of outboard seal to allow lubricant to access bearing and keep it wet, or is the lube able to penetrate thru seal to get to bearing? See first post. Yes, better not fitting outboard dust seal to allow grease or oil easy access to bearing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tolsen Posted December 18, 2019 Author Share Posted December 18, 2019 Confirming i am still running on the modified bearings both front and rear. No issues after nearly ten years. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedder Posted December 26, 2019 Share Posted December 26, 2019 Tolsen, I am looking at a bearing (front), and trying to figure out how to disassemble it. It looks like the inner race can't be pressed out with a wheel puller, but needs to be split and pulled in either direction. Is that true? If it is, I don't have a tool designed for that task. Plus, the seals are not coming with ease, and I don't want to damage them. How did you dismantle your bearings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LooseLugNuts Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 (edited) the inner race is 2 piece..if you need a press for it youre doing it wrong they should almost fall out the outer races are the hub Edited December 27, 2019 by LooseLugNuts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tolsen Posted December 27, 2019 Author Share Posted December 27, 2019 How to disassemble front bearings: It is best done with a three leg puller. You will need a suitable piece of steel to transfer load from puller spindle into bearing pipe shaft. Rotate bearing continuously when load is applied to avoid Brinelling of race rings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwin52 Posted April 25, 2020 Share Posted April 25, 2020 (edited) Hi Brian in Millbrook Ontario Canada. Just put my summer tires on and have noticed a loud noise coming out of I think the front end. Not grinding noise more of road noise? Not sure but different from the sound my Subaru made when front bearing was worn. Wheels dont seem to have any excess play. 2010 fortwo with 110K kms The car has been good just put in a new battery today, noticed the noise heading into Peterborough to pick up battery. Any ideas? I read that the front bearings are pressed into control arm and must replace entire unit, this true? Edited April 25, 2020 by Edwin52 oops searched for noise, should be in 451 tech 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tolsen Posted April 25, 2020 Author Share Posted April 25, 2020 Yes the 451 front wheel bearing is pressed in therefore requiring both special tools and skills to replace provided you can source a bare bearing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LooseLugNuts Posted April 25, 2020 Share Posted April 25, 2020 (edited) for the 451 germanparts.ca has bearing...not sure if it comes with press pins rockauto has cheaper ones https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTwOzPQHE2A Edited April 25, 2020 by LooseLugNuts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwin52 Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 Thanks for the replies. I put the front end up and spun the wheels. Right side free spinning, left did not. loosened lug nuts wheel spun better? Pads were rubbing, so lubed the sliders, reassembled and wheel free spinning. The bearings seem fine no play but still noise from somewhere. I cannot tell what it is. I remember hearing it in the winter but winter tires always sound louder. How can I determine if it is the new summer tires I just put on this spring? or some other component. Just updated my profile picture. I got our Newfoundland dog, Henri to jump in the back to prove to all the naysayers that the Smart really can carry a load , 150 lbs.... Ha ha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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