Is there any particular reason my wheel bearings are going out so often? I replaced my front left and right wheels complete hub almost, I put new spindles, Seals, and Timken bearings on the front left and the front right, those were done in december. Correctly preloaded and packed all four bearings. And now the front driver side wheel has completely crapped out the bearings and seal. ???! ive had to replace all four wheels plus one rear one. And certain reason they are going out so quickly???

 

what grease are you using?

 

Land Rovers special grease that cost like 25 dollars a tube.

 

Mine were not worn out but I removed them and repacked them with general wheel bearing grease and they are working just fine.

 

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The guide books are manufactured in Monument, CO. You can pick them up right from the guys who made them.

 

One thing that comes to mind is how tight are you leaving the nut? I do not remember the values, but you basically tighten them to seat them then back it off and only turn it slightly back to tighten it. If it is left too tight, that can cause premature failure.

Since I only have the open ended adapter, I cannot use my torque wrench on it either, so I just go by feel anyway. From what I have read you just barely resnug it.

Too tight induces wear.

 

Exactly! How tight are you cranking down on the bearings. Rule of thumb: If your tire can spin freely one revolution it is ok. If the tire cannot make one revolution that is too tight. Any spin more than one revolution is too loose.

 

Also make sure you are doing an exceptional job at folding over the thin washer in such a way that BOTH nuts are not loosening themselves. You should fold one portion forward for the inside nut and another portion of that lock washer out to hold the outer nut. It's a bear compared to other setups, but if it isn't done right, those nuts will loose enough to cause the wear. I'll have to check to see if Stage 8 sells an upgrade kit that will work for LRs. The setup we have is just like the old Dana 30 axles - in fact, the Jeep spindle nut sockets work on our setups (and, of course, costs less). EDIT - Nope, Stage 8 doesn't offer the X-lock for LRs. The Dana 44 has the same inner wheel bearing as the Disco, but uses a smaller diameter outer bearing so the lock set matches that smaller diameter. So, it won't work for us. Regardless, those kits are expensive - cheapest I saw was $54 each.

Have you been checking for movement regularly? Make it part of your maintenance routine, so that you catch the problem before it ruins the bearings.

 

I believe the LR grease contains moly, so it should be good. I used Lucas Synthetic Hi-Temp / Hi-Pressure grease, 500degree flash point. You can also use Timkin or Redline grease. Just find the highest temp synthetic bearing grease you can possibly find. Pack the heck out of those bearings, making sure the grease pushes out of the other side of the race.

As what others mentioned, you might be over tightening the bearings. Strictly follow the torque values and retighten procedure.

 

With the adapter, how does one possibly use a torque wrench? I guess you need a standard type socket?

Also how often should they be repacked?