Thread: Front Wheel Bearing

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It's been a while since I've messed with wheel bearings so I may need a refresher. I had my 57 T-bird out for a short drive. About an hour after I parked it I noticed a brown liquid on the bottom of the front wheel and tire. I took off the wheel cover and there was brown liquid on the wheel. It was only from the hub down and not flung around the wheel.

My first thought was this was coming from the wheel bearing. I took off the dust cap and there was no sign of trouble there, only clean grease on the inside of the cap. I didn't disassemble any further but I saw no signs of the brown liquid coming from inside the hub but I don't know where else it could have come from.

If my memory is correct there is no outer seal that could have gone bad. If the inner seal is bad would that cause what I saw on the front of the wheel? Any thoughts?

Thanks.

Maybe the wheel cylinder is leaking?

Originally Posted by NTFDAY

Maybe the wheel cylinder is leaking?

I agree, I'd be looking at that brown fluid as brake fluid that's absorbed a lot of moisture from the air.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll pull the wheel off sometime this weekend and see what I find. I'm still baffled how it got on the outside of the wheel (drum brakes) but I know liquids can sometimes follow an unpredictable path.

I pulled off the brake drum. There's no sign of a wheel cylinder leak but the bearing grease is about the color and consistency of a chocolate milkshake. This is definitely what was leaking on the outside of the wheel. What would cause this? Is it a sign the wrong grease was used? New brakes, drums and bearings were installed by a shop about a year (only 300 miles) ago. The clean grease inside the dust cap is red.

Originally Posted by Al G

I pulled off the brake drum. There's no sign of a wheel cylinder leak but the bearing grease is about the color and consistency of a chocolate milkshake. This is definitely what was leaking on the outside of the wheel. What would cause this? Is it a sign the wrong grease was used? New brakes, drums and bearings were installed by a shop about a year (only 300 miles) ago. The clean grease inside the dust cap is red.

The red color grease sounds like Pennzoil's Wheel Bearing Grease, which is good stuff. For grease to be like a chocolate milkshake it needs moisture, seems to me. Have you had the hubs submerged, or in a lot of water?

If it were mine I think I'd clean out all of the old grease, repack the bearings with a good wheel bearing grease, and be attentive to adjusting the pre-load on the wheel bearings when you put it back together. Others may offer some better guidance, but nothing's jumping out at me other than moisture and maybe being set a bit loose.

The hubs haven't seen any water, not even rain. It's been in a climate controlled garage so shouldn't be condensation.

After I get this side back together I'll look at the other side. The garage configuration right now doesn't give me room to get a jack on the other side until I reposition.

As I said initially it's been a long time since I messed with bearings. What should the grease look like after a year?

Here's a photo.

Sounds to me like it had to much grease in it. With out a picture of the grease you're removing, it'd just be a guess.

But if it was coming out onto the wheel, I'd say it was overfilled.

That could be. The entire hub was filled which surprised me.

Originally Posted by Al G

The hubs haven't seen any water, not even rain. It's been in a climate controlled garage so shouldn't be condensation.

After I get this side back together I'll look at the other side. The garage configuration right now doesn't give me room to get a jack on the other side until I reposition.

As I said initially it's been a long time since I messed with bearings. What should the grease look like after a year?

Just black grease.

Originally Posted by Al G

New brakes, drums and bearings were installed by a shop about a year (only 300 miles) ago. The clean grease inside the dust cap is red.

If the shop is local, I'd find out what they put in there. I'd want to know. Wheel bearing grease is not supposed to be water soluble. It's supposed to be very thick and gunky and NOT able to run out of the wheel and onto the cap. It's not supposed to run even if you hold a flame to it. This looks like some sort of Lithium grease to me. Did they give the job to some noodle-head who didn't know any better ??????

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Tech's right, and I didn't consider that there is a Lithium based chassis grease out there that's the same red color. Sounds like your shop used one of the wheel bearing pressure attachments and just pumped it full of their bulk grease used for chassis lube. I'd still just clean it all out, using solvent, and repack the bearings with a good quality wheel bearing grease.