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Who makes a bearing packer big enough to handle M35A2 wheel bearings?

TexAndy

Active member
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Harbor freight and northern tool only have models capable of handling up to 3.5" OD bearings.

I can't recall exactly with size the deuce wheel bearings are, but I know they're bigger than that.
 

mckeeranger

Member
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Eastern Kentucky
just pack it by hand.. take only a min .. just a little bit more messy. I have never seen one large enough to do the big truck bearings.
Same here. Once you get the hang of it, it's just about as fast as an automatic packer.

If you don't like the mess, wear a pair of non-latex exam gloves. I've found the latex gloves tear real quick when exposed to petroleum products.
 
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Beerslayer

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I used a bearing packer at a friends shop that was big enough. It just made a mess and we ended up finishing packing them by hand.

I used to use one of those pointy things that go on the end of a grease gun designed to grease a CV joint for getting grease down in the bearing, then finish by hand. That really worked well too.
 
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TexAndy

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I've done it by hand. I don't mind the mess but it's just so freaking time consuming.

I've got three trucks, tho. And a friend of mine 30 miles down the road where I usually go to work on mine because he has air tools and a hard surface to work on has one too... in fact we both did our 12k services (with keith_j's) help at the same time. So we'll probably end up doing them again at the same time in 3 years or so. 12 bearings per truck makes a $20 or $30 investment in a time-saving device well worth the money, imo.
And eventually I'd like to get an M38A1.

If it was just the one truck, I wouldn't bother with a packer.

Clinto:

Is this what you're talking about for the second style of packer?
- Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

Will that work for deuce and a half bearings?
 

Keith_J

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Back in the day....we would THROW bearings into the 5 gallon buckets of GAA. It worked, eventually.

The problem with most bearing packers is they use a grease gun and there is a considerable void volume of grease which is "wasted". Not an issue if you are willing to reload the grease gun or have a bulk fill grease gun. And another story from "back in the day"...supply wouldn't order any grease gun tubes, just 5 gallon pails. So we had to load the grease guns from bulk, a messy proposition.
 

drdstny

Banned
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Location
Portsmouth, NH
Guys, guys guys...

I have a solution for you that satisfies 2 conditions:

1 is that you don't have time to pack bearings, or you dislike grease, or you're a Nancy-boy

The other is that you want a packed set of spares in your parts kit for cross-country trips.

The answer?

SEAL-A-MEAL !!

Seriously. Do it once, you will seek out the bags in Costco Quantities.
 

Keith_J

Well-known member
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Schertz TX
I know Andy isn't a Nancy-boy. It is 12 bearings per vehicle.

You should have seen him after hitting all the zerk fittings on one deuce. :p
 

mdmorgan

AM3 U.S. Navy
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Forsyth, Ga.
Guys, guys guys...

I have a solution for you that satisfies 2 conditions:

1 is that you don't have time to pack bearings, or you dislike grease, or you're a Nancy-boy

The other is that you want a packed set of spares in your parts kit for cross-country trips.

The answer?

SEAL-A-MEAL !!

Seriously. Do it once, you will seek out the bags in Costco Quantities.

Care to go into more detail on how to?
 

TexAndy

Active member
1,427
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Location
Bee County, Texas
Care to go into more detail on how to?

I think he just means buying a vacuum sealer like you would use for food and pre-lubing spare wheel bearings for quick replacement on long road trips. Seal one side, drop the bearing in the envelope, seal/suck the other side.

I've got one that I use for meat, fish, etc... works great.
 

drdstny

Banned
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Location
Portsmouth, NH
Care to go into more detail on how to?
Happy to:

Basically, you get a big ol' glob of grease around the wide end of the bearing, just like if you were packing it by hand. Seriously: more than you think you need would be good, but surround the open part of the races (you know what I mean, guys, English makes it sound more complicated than it is).

Put the bearing and its grease in the baggie.

Activate the Grease-O-Tron 5000 with the same technique you would use to save a chub of ground beef.

VIOLIN! You will see the grease get sucked through the rollers and out the small end, thereby efficiently and evenly packing your bearings.

At this point, you <open> the baggie to install the bearing, or you just keep it as-is, stored in a vacuum-sealed, plastic-lined pouch that is tougher than the box the bearing came in and drop the now-sealed unit into your spare parts box. It's pre-greased, protected from vibration damage, protected from rust, protected from dust and all-but-sterile, ready to use at the side of the road with your typical home-brewed care and preparation.

I don't know that there's really enough info to write a book on the whole Seal-A-Meal super-device, but the only one I own is in the garage. I use it for probably 5 or 6 really persnickety jobs that annoy me. I learned this technique from a column called "It Worked For Me" in either _Popular Mechanics_ or _Scientific Forklift_ or _Malapropism Unadulterated_ or one of those magazines, Circa 1980. I never forgot the tip, I never forgot the column name, but I can't find the stinkin magazine for the life of me.

BTW, I also have some pretty groovy tips for using your long-time wife's (or Ex-girlfriend's) colander and curling iron as well as testing the tensil-strength of Tupperware. I may even write an article called "Preparing Your Freezer To Do Your Dirty Hydraulic Work Without Rendering Your Fish Sticks Inedible."

Right now I just want to cuddle & spoon.
 

Keith_J

Well-known member
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Location
Schertz TX
Well then, I would suppose a heavy plastic bag and a Mity Vac hand vacuum pump should do something similar.:wink:
 

drdstny

Banned
187
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0
Location
Portsmouth, NH
Give it a shot, Keith, let us know what happens.

(It's not going to happen; I'm just trying to be a nicer Dr. Destiny and be encouraging rather than always-oh-so-negative. Nobody likes that. Not even me.)
 

TexAndy

Active member
1,427
16
38
Location
Bee County, Texas
WHOA. That's... beautiful, if it works. If you had a complete set of replacement bearings on hand, you could repack them all ahead of time with a minimum of fuss.

Is it a problem to use new inner races with old outer races, tho?
 
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