Our town is not as backward as you may think. We have a breakdown service. The vehicle consists of an ancient bakkie fitted with one of those quickly removable frameworks that turn it into a recovery vehicle. The service is operated by Voetstoots Venter, who also runs a second-hand car lot. The gossip around town is that he has never sold a car with a roadworthy certificate. It is further claimed that none of the cars would ever pass a roadworthy test and some could not even get to the test grounds under their own steam. This predicament doesn’t seem to bother him. He’s always cheerful and friendly.
The other day he brought me an old Isuzu bakkie with a seized front wheel. The owner, a farmer who does a lot of his own maintenance, came with him. He was not in the mood for small talk and lost no time in telling me that he’s just replaced the wheel bearings. He was convinced that the fault must lie with the cheap Chinese units that he only purchased because the counter-hand insisted that they’re as good as OE bearings.
As soon as Hennie saw the leaks around the dust cap, as well as the amount of grease inside, the mystery was solved. There was far too much grease in the hub and this had caused overheating. Hennie looked at the other front wheel and found that it was also overfull and would soon have seized.
He started Japie on the repairs and explained to the farmer that, when repacking wheel bearings, the grease should not occupy more than about 40 per cent of the free space. The grease should circulate as the wheel rotates and, if there is no free space, this can’t happen. This will cause overheating, the grease will soften and leak out, and the bearings will seize. There should initially not be any grease in the dust cap, but some will eventually find its way there.