That old mechanic told me I was ruining my hubs with too much grease. Guess he was right.

About 6 months ago I was rebuilding the rear hub on my old Trek 520. I packed it full of grease, I mean packed it. Guy at the co-op named Dave who's been wrenching since the 70s told me I was gonna cook the bearings. I thought he was just being old school and stubborn. Fast forward to last week. Hub started feeling rough and dragging. Opened it up and the grease had turned into this hard yellow paste. The balls were actually sliding instead of rolling. Had to replace the cones and half the balls. Took me 2 hours to clean everything out. So yeah, lesson learned. You don't fill the whole cavity, just a thin layer on the bearings. Has anyone else had a bad experience from over-greasing?

3 comments

3 Comments

linda_murphy10d ago

Oh man, I did the exact same thing on my mountain bike... melted the grease into a gluey mess.

robert_rodriguez6610d ago

20 bucks says that bike still stinks after a deep clean.

joseph5298d ago

Wait, did anyone else think more grease was always better? I used to work on my car and thought if a little was good, a lot was better. Then I did the same thing on my old pickup's wheel bearings. Packed em full like I was making a sandwich. Ended up with that same hard yellow paste you described. The grease can't move around to cool things down so it just bakes into plastic. Now I just put a thin coat on each bearing and call it done. Your Trek story is exactly what happened to me.