Front wheel bearing PM

[twins4life]

Time for new rubber and some PM. Read to relube the front wheel barings but after wheel removal the bearings appear to be sealed :banghead

Any ideas?

[MCMXCIVRS]

They last a long time. I replaced mine once just for peace of mind reasons, but it was a while ago. These ones are still fine after many many more miles than the originals. Just feel them to see if the turn smoothly, any detectable roughness is cause to replace. Otherwise, just leave the bearings and your money where they are.

[twins4life]

Advice accepted.

Thanks!

[flash412]

Take a small screw driver. One of those "greenie" Xcelite "tweeker" screw drivers is perfect. The seal is plastic. Stick the screw driver straight into the bearing as close to the inner race as possible, between the race and the seal. GENTLY pry the seal up. If you are careful, you can pop up the edge and the entire seal will pop right off and not be deformed at all. Take a blob of grease the size of a pea and mash it into the balls. Do this again. Do not over grease. Spin the bearing to distribute the grease. Lay the seal on the bearing and run your thumb around it. If you didn't deform it, it will pop right back in.

Tip: When replacing wheel bearings, harvest the seals from the old ones before you toss the fragged bearing. Save a couple of them just in case you deform a seal on a repack job.