Packing the wheel bearings

When you receive a new set of wheels, chances are they will come with a note saying something along the lines of "the wheel bearings were only packed with a light amount of grease - make sure to repack the bearings before use!" In my opinion, this is the wheel company being cheap and lazy - or it could be a liability thing - who knows? Case and point, we have some bearings to pack!


So I got some AeroShell 22 grease (as recommended by the wheel manufacturer).

I started out by removing the internal retaining ring...

Then removed the upper washer...

Then removed the felt washer...

Then removed the bottom washer... finally exposing the bearing...

The bearing now easily pops out...

They call it "packing a bearing" because you have to force grease into the crevices between the rollers. This is done by putting a glob of grease on your palm... 

...and scraping the bottom edge (the larger opening) of the bearing against your palm. 

Continue to do this... packing the grease in between the rollers... rotating the bearing after every 'scrape'... once you go around once or twice, hold it up against the light. If you see light shining through the rollers, you need to pack more grease.

Here is what you want to see... the grease coming up through to the other end of the bearing...

After all crevices have been filled with grease, wipe off any access grease and drop it back into the wheel hub.

Make sure it sits nice and flush...

Reinsert the bottom washer...

Reinsert the felt washer...

Reinsert the upper washer...

And finally, reinsert the internal retaining ring...

Each wheel contains two bearings... so if you include the nose wheel, there are a total of 6 bearings to pack... so get pack'n!!!