Video: Repacking wheel bearings with Red Line grease
12-25-2016, 06:53 PM
#1
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Video: Repacking wheel bearings with Red Line grease
In what is destined to become one of the legendary holiday videos of all time, I have posted a thrilling 10-minute "How-To" video of how to repack a Porsche OEM wheel bearing assembly with high-performance Red Line CV-2 synthetic grease.
The OEM-*** assembly ($38) comes pre-packed with a thin grease that is fine for daily driving but is notorious for breaking down under track conditions. It's rated up to 200 degrees F. You can repack the bearings with Red Line grease ($12.95), which is rated up to 800 degrees. The process takes 10 minutes.
Okay, I was kidding about the part where it's a legendary video. It's actually pretty boring. But if you want to repack your bearings, here's how.
The OEM-*** assembly ($38) comes pre-packed with a thin grease that is fine for daily driving but is notorious for breaking down under track conditions. It's rated up to 200 degrees F. You can repack the bearings with Red Line grease ($12.95), which is rated up to 800 degrees. The process takes 10 minutes.
Okay, I was kidding about the part where it's a legendary video. It's actually pretty boring. But if you want to repack your bearings, here's how.
12-25-2016, 07:27 PM
#2
Rennlist Member
Ok I watched it and I dont even have a SPB, great video
Just curious about the redline grease.
Wheres the commentary
Just curious about the redline grease.
Wheres the commentary
Last edited by stujelly; 12-28-2016 at 10:13 PM.
12-25-2016, 07:34 PM
#3
Banned
Great! Thanks!
12-25-2016, 09:13 PM
#4
Rennlist Member
redline grease
The truth here, and i wanted this stuff to be the best, i really did, as it has the catchy name... but, in fact, it was horrible. it turned to water and ran out of the seals. no substitute to a nice black, sticky, thick high temp bearing grease , lithium based.
Now, i used the redline wheel bearing grease that was in the long tube, but i think it was the same as the jar i saw on the video. cant remember.
it looks too thin, but you never know, maybe that bearing can handle it based on design. i know on front wheel bearings it didnt work. on the rears, I have the large bearing like this bearing,and ive had one failure in 20 years of racing.. thats a tough bearing by design.
Now, i used the redline wheel bearing grease that was in the long tube, but i think it was the same as the jar i saw on the video. cant remember.
it looks too thin, but you never know, maybe that bearing can handle it based on design. i know on front wheel bearings it didnt work. on the rears, I have the large bearing like this bearing,and ive had one failure in 20 years of racing.. thats a tough bearing by design.
12-26-2016, 12:54 AM
#5
Red Line CV-2 works great on my race car's front and rear wheel bearings as well its CV joints. It always is nice a thick when I open the bearings and CV joints up to check on them. The bearings and CV joints always have minimal wear too. I highly recommend Ed Line CV-2!!
12-26-2016, 10:02 AM
#6
Race Car
Thank you for the video. I wanted to repack my last set of wheel bearings and couldn't find any resources on how the bearings came apart. I will keep this as reference material for the next go around.
12-26-2016, 10:08 AM
#7
Rennlist Member
These DIY tutorials have always been among the greatest contributions to RL. I have gained so much knowledge by reading people's write ups and I've also put up quite a few in my time as well. You should cross post this in the appropriate forum(s).
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12-26-2016, 01:47 PM
#10
Banned
You guys sound so cryptic for a zero-secrets noob like myself. 
12-26-2016, 01:56 PM
#11
Rennlist Member
personally, i have a hard time taking the rear bearings apart (same model bearing on my racer) sealed bearings are scary to me, and i dont think i would trust myself to take them apart.. (but you make it look easy) front bearings , are naturally sent greasless and we manually pack the, which im very good at that process. good for you that you just dove in and "picked" it apart and reassembled . which bearing is this, the rear ? are the front dual or this style too?
12-26-2016, 02:30 PM
#12
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
At Watkins Glen this past May, I noticed the right front bearing assembly was going bad and I decided to replace them all over the summer break as part of general maintenance.
Pelican Parts had new *** bearing assemblies for $40 each (Part #: 999-053-041-04-M34)
http://www.pelicanparts.com/More_Inf...053-041-04-M34
The grease was $12.95.
https://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=82
On the Spec Boxster (1997-1999) front and rear bearings are the same.
(1997-2004) Boxster - Front/Rear
(2000-2004) Boxster 'S' - Front
(1989-2005) 911 Carrera 2 - Front
(1989-2005) 911 Carrera 4 - Front
(1991-1997) 911 turbo - Front
I am not a mechanic...had never done anything like this before. But I was inspired by a Provost YouTube video that made it look easy....until it came time to remove the bearing races from the assembly (a section that the Provost video conveniently skipped over). After fiddling with it unsuccessfully for hours, I finally called their shop, and they reluctantly revealed the secret.
I needed a 90-degree pick to push down (blindly) on the little plastic tabs on the edge of the bearing race in order to free it for removal. It's sort of like picking your nose. You have to just dig around by feel.
Once you learn to visualize the tabs, it's pretty easy. The first one is the hardest...then it gets progressively easier.
Regarding the value of Red Line grease...I'm no expert. But I figured if I was going to spend $200 for new bearings, I might as well pack them full of high-performance grease. (I used maybe a third of a 14 oz. jar to pack four assemblies.) And, so far, the car runs great. I'll leave it to greater minds than mine to debate the relative value of my experiment. But, so far, so good.
Pelican Parts had new *** bearing assemblies for $40 each (Part #: 999-053-041-04-M34)
http://www.pelicanparts.com/More_Inf...053-041-04-M34
The grease was $12.95.
https://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=82
On the Spec Boxster (1997-1999) front and rear bearings are the same.
(1997-2004) Boxster - Front/Rear
(2000-2004) Boxster 'S' - Front
(1989-2005) 911 Carrera 2 - Front
(1989-2005) 911 Carrera 4 - Front
(1991-1997) 911 turbo - Front
I am not a mechanic...had never done anything like this before. But I was inspired by a Provost YouTube video that made it look easy....until it came time to remove the bearing races from the assembly (a section that the Provost video conveniently skipped over). After fiddling with it unsuccessfully for hours, I finally called their shop, and they reluctantly revealed the secret.
I needed a 90-degree pick to push down (blindly) on the little plastic tabs on the edge of the bearing race in order to free it for removal. It's sort of like picking your nose. You have to just dig around by feel.
Once you learn to visualize the tabs, it's pretty easy. The first one is the hardest...then it gets progressively easier.Regarding the value of Red Line grease...I'm no expert. But I figured if I was going to spend $200 for new bearings, I might as well pack them full of high-performance grease. (I used maybe a third of a 14 oz. jar to pack four assemblies.) And, so far, the car runs great. I'll leave it to greater minds than mine to debate the relative value of my experiment. But, so far, so good.
12-26-2016, 03:29 PM
#13
Rennlist Member
cool... i can see why you got inspired! good video.. the mechanic's and yours. the main reason of failure , might be mainly because of the lack of grease to start with. who knows... but certainly you cant go wrong by the re-build of the new bearing the way you did it. nice work
12-30-2016, 04:23 PM
#15
Three Wheelin'
Originally Posted by PLNewman
At Watkins Glen this past May, I noticed the right front bearing assembly was going bad and I decided to replace them all over the summer break as part of general maintenance.
Pelican Parts had new *** bearing assemblies for $40 each (Part #: 999-053-041-04-M34)
http://www.pelicanparts.com/More_Inf...053-041-04-M34
The grease was $12.95.
https://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=82
On the Spec Boxster (1997-1999) front and rear bearings are the same.
(1997-2004) Boxster - Front/Rear
(2000-2004) Boxster 'S' - Front
(1989-2005) 911 Carrera 2 - Front
(1989-2005) 911 Carrera 4 - Front
(1991-1997) 911 turbo - Front
I am not a mechanic...had never done anything like this before. But I was inspired by a Provost YouTube video that made it look easy....until it came time to remove the bearing races from the assembly (a section that the Provost video conveniently skipped over). After fiddling with it unsuccessfully for hours, I finally called their shop, and they reluctantly revealed the secret.
I needed a 90-degree pick to push down (blindly) on the little plastic tabs on the edge of the bearing race in order to free it for removal. It's sort of like picking your nose. You have to just dig around by feel. Once you learn to visualize the tabs, it's pretty easy. The first one is the hardest...then it gets progressively easier.
Regarding the value of Red Line grease...I'm no expert. But I figured if I was going to spend $200 for new bearings, I might as well pack them full of high-performance grease. (I used maybe a third of a 14 oz. jar to pack four assemblies.) And, so far, the car runs great. I'll leave it to greater minds than mine to debate the relative value of my experiment. But, so far, so good.
Pelican Parts had new *** bearing assemblies for $40 each (Part #: 999-053-041-04-M34)
http://www.pelicanparts.com/More_Inf...053-041-04-M34
The grease was $12.95.
https://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=82
On the Spec Boxster (1997-1999) front and rear bearings are the same.
(1997-2004) Boxster - Front/Rear
(2000-2004) Boxster 'S' - Front
(1989-2005) 911 Carrera 2 - Front
(1989-2005) 911 Carrera 4 - Front
(1991-1997) 911 turbo - Front
I am not a mechanic...had never done anything like this before. But I was inspired by a Provost YouTube video that made it look easy....until it came time to remove the bearing races from the assembly (a section that the Provost video conveniently skipped over). After fiddling with it unsuccessfully for hours, I finally called their shop, and they reluctantly revealed the secret.
I needed a 90-degree pick to push down (blindly) on the little plastic tabs on the edge of the bearing race in order to free it for removal. It's sort of like picking your nose. You have to just dig around by feel.
Once you learn to visualize the tabs, it's pretty easy. The first one is the hardest...then it gets progressively easier.Regarding the value of Red Line grease...I'm no expert. But I figured if I was going to spend $200 for new bearings, I might as well pack them full of high-performance grease. (I used maybe a third of a 14 oz. jar to pack four assemblies.) And, so far, the car runs great. I'll leave it to greater minds than mine to debate the relative value of my experiment. But, so far, so good.
My 2010 Cayman S was exactly 2 days past expiration of the CPO when the rear wheel bearings started screaming.
I wanted to put in repacked bearings but I managed to get the dealer to cover the job under warranty so I didn't want to upset the apple cart by trying to supply my own parts.
Last week I decided to replace front wheel bearings and I attempted to disassemble the new bearings but I couldn't get past the inner and outer seals.
I too called Provost for help, and despite looking identical to the bearings in the videos, they advised me the Cayman bearings do not come apart.
Only thing that can be done is wash out the grease as best you can with brake cleaner and get a mini grease gun to inject the new grease and work it around.