The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest bearing packer

I'm not impressed. It fills the bearing OK but it also fills the hole in the bearing and you have to get your hands greasy getting that out. Then you have to take the outer race off to press it in. That pulls grease off the surface of the rollers which has to be put back on by hand. I believe I wasted my money. Besides, packing by hand is so much more fun.

I never used one, but always wondered how they worked. Now I can save my money.

Thanks

John

I still use my FOOD SAVER as seen on TV ...lol ..man I use this thing all the time.
Check this out you can buy a whole pork loin for say in the range of $25..last week my local butcher did one for me and I got 21 butterfly chops for like $26.50 ...go compare that to buyin a pack of 4 at the meat cooler @ 4 for $10 to $12.
Well anyway ..you take a food saver bag make it 12" long seal one end slide in your bearing genourassly rubbed with a coat of grease say 1/4" thick stick at the bottem of your bag and run it a cycle that takes like 20 seconds to vacume down and you have 1 perfectly packed bearing if it looks a little light do it again until there is extra grease that cant push in..then ya know for sure your bearing has all the grease it can hold.
I make the bag 12" long just so I know I wont suck any grease up into the machine an contaminate it, I save the bag after cause I can do a bunch in that bag before it gets to short.
Just a tip
for savin $$$
Tim

I don't have a "vacumn" How much do they cost?

I also use my hand to pack them. I have a new bearing packer still in the package. I hate those things!

Maybe you're all using the wrong bearing packer. I couldn't do without the ones I have in the shop.

Not to sound like a smarta**, but you're supposed to install the outer race before you pack the bearing . And even with a packer, dealing with bearings is going to be a messy job. Virtually all of them fill the center hole, but there's no real need to get it perfectly cleaned out, just get the bulk out and quick wipe with towell will do. One thing you can do to help with the mess is wear latex or nitril gloves. get them fom a pharmacey or medical supply store, much cheaper that the ones they sell at the flaps, and you get 10 times as many.
Now, personally, at work I'll use the packer, but I always go and give them a second packing by hand, gust to be sure that they are fully packed. At home, I just do it by hand.

One thing Ive noticed lately while cleaning up the bearings and repacking them in my COE was that I could not get the same type of grease in a tube (which is how my bearing packer works) and can only get it in a tub. None of the greases at the FLAPS have the same types of any bearing grease in a tube or in a tub, theyre all different.

I typically pack them by hand with latex gloves (I buy them by the thousand for dirt cheap) and havent ever used a packer although I have one.

Jeff

I borrowed a packer to try last time I did the bearings on my tandem axle trailer. Bought my own the next day.

We use Mobil Lith 007 synthetic grease in all our trailer and steering axle bearings. Have been for about 15 years and we just don't have bearing or seal failures any more. But without a bearing packer, it would really be a nasty job. We just slowly pump until it oozes out between the rollers.

Rustednuts: take a look at Valvoline. They make a couple different types that are in the tubes that will fit you needs....and they should be found in the "grease section" of your local discount store!

Just my $.002 worth, why not use an old style grease gun, the kind one had to fill by hand instead of the tube type. Then it wont matter abput the tub thing.
dg

I've got one of those cheasy packers...... I pack em by hand......

I use red hi-temp grease in tubes on everything...

I have a cheap-o packer for Harbor Freight, used it many times, couldn't be better. Just finished packing front wheel bearings on my '54 GMC, took about 15 minutes to do all 4. What's a little grease on your hands, that's part of the fun.

I use a Mac bearing packer every time I repack bearings. There's no way around getting greasy packing bearings either way, it just takes less time,
Scott

I have to agree with MNSmith. i got a packer from cornwell tools, and it works great. made packing em so much easier.