1961 front wheel bearing grease seal

[Matt 12861]

Does the grease seal have to be pushed out or pried out?  the book just says remove it, and then it looks like it has to be pressed in.  It also looks like there are several styles, does anybody have a recommendation? As far as the bearings are SKF the best? 
Thanks,
Matt Givler

[Jon S]

When I did my last brake job many years ago,  I pried the old seals out with a screwdriver, cleaned and re-packed the bearings and installed the new grease seal carefully with a hammer going around the outside edge of the hub. SKF, Sealed Power and other brands are fine. 

[Daryl Chesterman]

Matt, the SKF bearings and seals are good quality and readily available at your local NAPA jobber.  The NAPA
seal number is 19803, the inner bearing set number is BR5 and the outer bearing set is BR3.  If your bearings and races are in good condition (no pitting or spalling), you can reuse them and just use a good wheel bearing grease to pack them.  If a bearing or race (also called a cone & cup) is discolored from heat, pitting or spalling, be sure to replace both the bearing and the race--never mate a new bearing with an old race or vice versa.

As Jon said, you can pry the old seal out.  If you have a press, that is the best method of installing the new seals.  If you don't have a press available to you, you can tap them in with a hammer if you are careful.  When using a hammer, I place the seal in the hub and tap it just enough around the edges to get it started, then I have a square 3/8" plate that is larger than the seal, and center it on top of the seal and strike the plate in the center until the plate bottoms out on the hub, then the seal is where it should be.  When using the press, I still use the square plate and just press in the center of the plate until the plate bottoms out on the hub.  You don't have to have the special seal driver that is shown in the picture--it takes the place of the plate that I use to keep from driving the seal too deep.

Daryl Chesterman

[savemy67]

Hello Matt,

Back in the day, after removing the outer bearing, the drum was placed back on the spindle.  The castle nut was re-installed on the end of the spindle, and the drum assembly was pulled outboard.  The nut would catch the inner bearing race/cone and seal, removing them from the hub/drum with one stout pull of the drum in an outboard direction.

More recently, this process was used to check a front wheel issue on a late fifties Cadillac on the show field at the 2019 GN in Louisville, KY.

The photo from the shop manual shows a new seal being installed using an arbor press.  This type of press usually generates less then three tons of force, which implies that not much force is needed to install a seal.  The methods described in the other posts are good substitutes if you don't have access to a press.  The reason the shop manual indicates the use of a press is because many seals are the garter spring type.  With the substitute methods, due to the shock imparted by a hammer (whether directly on a seal or indirectly using a plate), there is a small probability that the garter spring will be dislodged, degrading the effectiveness of a seal.  This does not happen when a press is used.

If you use a hammer method, be sure to check that the garter spring is still in place after installing a seal.

Respectfully submitted,

Christopher Winter