Steve, that rear end is a work of art! Just a thought, those sealed bearings are intended to run with a 60% - 75% of full capacity grease loading. Excess grease effectively acts like water does when a tyre aquaplanes, it makes the rolling element skate on the tracks which rapidly degrades the bearing. The excess grease loading will also generate more than normal heat as there’s not enough space for excess to occupy, so the extremely viscous grease is constantly forced around. With non-sealed bearings the pack it full by hand method is definitely the way to go. Ex-SBK R&D engineer.
Was just going to post to ask about this, you beat me to the punch with actual numbers. I'm floored, given the cost of bearings and studs that Steve wouldn't just put new in the hubs and leave his old set ready to go if he wanted to swap back later?
Was wondering if someone had mentioned that also. I'm a service tech for a large mower company and we have had a situation where spindle bearings where failing early and it turns out the manufacture of our bearings was putting to much grease in the bearings. It would push out a seal once it was hot and then let moisture in and the bearing would fail. They lowered the grease volume and the failures went away.
@@ChuckChuckBoBuck I'm not criticizing Steve, he does amazing stuff but for reference my old truck has a full floater too. Steve could make those hubs if he wanted to.
From a 30 year twin turbine EMS helicopter Mechanic those sealed ball bearings will be fine even on a drag and drive car. Also, a sealed ball bearing unit should never be packed past 75% grease capacity. A full bearing has a tendency to make the balls skip across the races instead of rolling across the races. That can possibly cause bearing failure. Also food for thought the front of most modern cars and trucks including big heavy 1 ton diesels use sealed unit bearings on the front and they can easily last over 100k miles. Even with big oversize mud tires on them.
Also I'd suspect that the factory grease was a synthetic variety and many times they look under-greased when new....but the manufacturers know what they're doing. I always worry about cross-contaminating greases without being fully up to speed on what is being replaced.
Yep SKF has lots of tech info on their site. Generally, the higher the RPM the less grease needed. The excess grease will escape because " sealed " bearings just have a thin rubber lip facing outwards to keep dust out not an actual inward seal to keep grease in .
Not to mention, those bearings were driven out without access to do so via the outer race... Granted, they weren't a super tight fit but still, I'm now firmly in camp replace with new.
As Steve is educating us on full floating axles and how they work, the sound in the background is a solid block of aluminum being turned into an engine block. That is the sound of horsepower being created. requests that members send him bones-lots of them.
Having the full float brake disc allows it to expand when hot without warping. You see that a lot on motorcycles and road race cars that have extremely hot running brakes.
Bicycles too, same reason, long descent and your rotors get super hot. My Hope discs are actually a stainless surface on an aluminum holder for some extra heat dissipation and less mass
The seals will stay in place since they are just a rubber flap and the excess grease will exit the seal. Generally, the higher the RPM the less grease that is needed. There is a whole science to how much grease is needed in the bearing. SKF has some tech info.
Most of the grease will end up on other side of bearing when it heats up, that's why you only pack one side. New bearing will have one side full and not much on other side.
I was wondering that if the floater feature is only needed during catastrophic event, it wouldn't need to greased much. But high speed makes sense for light pack. Thanks.
Cleaning and regreasing isn’t an issue as long as you don’t pack too much grease in places where contamination can occur on other components when the bearings heat up and expel the excess grease. I grease hub assemblies on all my trucks and cars once a year for the ones that see the most use and abuse
it'll push a bit but not blow *if* there was too much. He put a super reasonable amount of grease in those bearings, and there's no reason to replace a good bearing just because you're afraid of overfilling it
An old dirt track trick on full floater axles, take and mark a straight line from spline to spline when its new, then when doing maintenance ypu can check to see if it is twisting.
I hope you didn't over pack the bearings. That rear end is a work of art. WOW.... Your Hi-Def video is absolutely incredible and incredible editing... I'm a gear head from Atlanta living in Thailand for 15 years. I was Alan's Performance specializing in Dodge Viper Performance. Thank you for all of the enjoyment and knowledge you have shared. Alan 😎
I was reading through the comments to see if anyone picked up on this (over packing the bearings). Many years ago, when I took my industrial maintenance cert. test, there was a true/false question about overheating bearings packed too full of grease. The answer was true! Those bearings are over packed. He was worried of the service life of those bearings, Having installed thousands of them in some really brutal environments in 24/7 operating plant, those bearings will outlive that car with the minimal grease that came in them.
About 30 years ago, an ole farmer taughy me how to pack bearings. Never knew until later in life how powerful of a skill that was. Hardly anyone i knew could pack bearings. Like that. The bench top tool works great too. But in the field your hand is the best.
I did thousands of bearings by hand until last year when a pretty young salesman (saleslady?) had the Lisle one on special. I figured I would give it a shot. I do really like it for the speed, but I don't like the idea of pushing the old grease out with the new stuff. It is also hard to inspect a bearing properly when it is covered in old black grease. I clean them up, give them a look over, then repack.
@@--_DJ_-- spend 5 minutes and wipe off all the excess old grease and flush the bearings out using the part’s washer, followed by a spritz of Brake-Kleen, a blow dry holding the bearings cage to prevent it from spinning, and then repack with your Lisle bearings packer.
@gullreefclub Thank you for pointing out the "hold the cage" part of the compressed air step..aside from the fact that a nice dry high speed spin will gall the snot out of a bearing, if the cage lets go the bearings go ballistic and the cage will slice up your fingers like a honey baked ham.. Watched a fellow student do it forty-some years ago..looked painful!
Really cool to hear your appreciation and respect for the craftsmanship and engineering that has been put into the components of the wagon. I am sure it’s similar to people that have one of your engines. You have to respect the amount of engineering it takes to produce components that can take the stress everything is put under and survive. It really is awesome
Many videos ago I commented that you needed to put the rear quarters on hinges or 1/4 turn fasteners so you didn't have to waste the time vacuuming out the air in your tires anymore... Look at you go, certainly going to be a game changer with time savings... Hopefully you go over kill with the quick releases to keep em on at your 230+ passes. Keep on posting these videos, it's great to see the way you learn and then show what you learn to us. Can't wait to see billet everything🤙
3rd member is a mechanical work of art. Gotta be rewarding to be an engineer these days. Even with all the high tech - crescent wrench and hand-packed bearings get the job done.
The disc brake mounting setup is to allow the disc to grow in diameter as it heats up without distorting, the nuts allow the mounting tangs on the disc to slide outward radially. Floating disc.
It is amazing, that that hub, and rotor assembly is held in place by a snap ring. I was taught the same way, to pack bearings. I am glad, everything, is Dewey approved. Have a good day.
Followup, you have over greased the bearing. They are factory sealed. Over filling like that will force past the seals in use. In this case the lost grease will be flung outward into your brake rotor. Just put a fresh bearing in with factory grease.
I've packed them like that for 30 years ,absolutely no problems. Have you ever opened up a brand new bearing and seen the grease in them,it's soild grease all the way around. Most of that grease will end up on the other side, that's why you never pack both sides!
The reason wheel bearings are packed full is that once they spin up, the excess grease is pushed to the periphery where it acts as a grease reservoir. There is no room for that in a sealed bearing. If you open up a sealed bearing after it is been in operation you will find the grease pack is about 30% of the available volume. The the spinning balls evacuate a path and the rest of the grease is flung to the perimeter. It cant stay in the ball path. If the bearing is packed full the grease has to go somewhere which means weeping past the seals. This is why industrial motors are limited to a few shots of grease per year. Too much and the excess is flung into the motor windings. In Steves case I can’t imagine even a few skits of grease on the brake rotor wouldn’t be cool
I've got to say the part i enjoyed most about this video was when you were looking at the rear end and suspension. Yes it's top shelf. You kind of took a pause for a second, kind of a moment of self realization. Yes Mr. Morris you made all that happen. And you earned it, congrats. Your are truly a good guy.
Hi Steve, I love your videos! Just a bit of logic on the brake rotor floating on the hub with the slide nuts. The slots allow the rotor to expand as it heats under braking. It also allows the area touching the hub to be as small as possible to prevent heat transfer into the hub and bearings under heavy and continuous braking.
Steve, I'd make the quarter panel removable seam behind the back doors in the wheel well area. That way you might consider having the seal lip for the door and part of the inner wheel well come off with the panel. This would give you more room for tire swap, and hide the removal seam behind the door. And I'd get some new wheel bearings. Is the inside bearing, outer seal exposed to the outside with no additional seal? If so, the grease from it could dump onto your brake rotors. That extra grease you put in could end up finding it's way onto your rear brakes.
What, and miss out on the original mechanic's hand softener? Someday, I'm gonna find a woman who thinks fresh long grain wheel bearing grease smells as sexy as I think it does...
Steve Make yourself a dolly with a cradle to hold the tyre. Even if its an old small trolley jack. Slide it under, lift, push in and tyres on. You could even use those dolleys you use to move the car around the shop on with a screw scissor jack with a cradle on top to hold the tyre. You could then use a battery powerd wrench to lift the screw jack. Easy as pie and 20 mins of welding. If you make it nice you could produce them on the side and sell it with your merch......😂
I love that Steve hangs around the shop wondering how things work and fit and geeks out about how cool his car is! Fame and money aside, he's a normal car guy like the rest of us!
Yes he is. He owns that cool stuff because he WORKS FOR IT. Nobody gave Steve Morris nuth'n,, he's earned his status in the high performance automotive world. 🙂
If ya gonna use removable guard make your front edge of the removable guard inside the door recess so wind DOSENT get in behind and try to rip it off while on the drag race
Steve you might consider making a portable wheel dolly jack that allows you to lean the tire back a little bit to get the angle to roll it into place, have to say that wagon is sooo nice 👍 God Bless
That moment when Steve is taking in how nice the rear end/whole car truly is. That was such a great thing to watch. I'm always in awe at how much money, sweat, work goes into making these cars go this fast and be reliable. Truly a car artist and pioneer. We're so lucky to have people document these things. Keep up the great videos Steve and crew!
Always replace that type of wheel bearings if you remove them! It's almost impossible NOT to damage them when you extract them, because you can't get behind the outer race, and if you push on the inner race you will damage the balls or rollers. And/or the races...☹ Remember, any play in those bearings will be multiplied at the tire surface and could easily initiate tire shake at your power level...😉
True testament to hard work and dedication pays off in many ways. Growing and learning. Everybody's RU-vid's are different and I for one and many I'm sure are glad you do what you do for everyone. It's cool as hell to see and learn off what you do. Good or bad. Still learning.
I think there's several reasons for why the rotor is "floating" and has the ability to slide a little, and one of them is probably so when she get's really toasty it has room to grow otherwise it would warp I imagine. Crazy to think the temperature sweep that thing sees in like 10 seconds (ambient temp up to 4 figures of temp, then back down) I bet it grows and shrinks relatively quickly.
Lock it grab impact remove all the studs then use new or push the bearings out and in then studs. The inserts are for the expansion differences of metals and the operating temps. That is what gets it done for a six second four thousand herspers WAGON.
You need a "Dewey Approved" line of t-shirts. Picture of The Wagon, Sugar Momma or an SMX with a little pic of Dewey's head and the caption "Dewey Approved". That dog it so cool.
I personally like the design of the rotor bolt 'collar' pieces. I have a hunch it wouldn't be as hard of a metal as the rotor. Have a good weekend Steve!
Great educational video. Food for thought on being able to mount the tires easily would be to modify an ATV/Motorcycle lift like the ones that they have at Northern Tool.
I think those nuts for the brake rotor allow the rotor to grow when heat gets in it, and could potentially keep the rotors from cracking at the mounting point. I like that design.
I had the first generation of that small impact from them and it just failed last year. The tool didn’t even break. It was the battery, and they don’t make replacements for them anymore. I’ve had it since 2009.
I agree with you , that car is beautiful and I really appreciate you showing us the inner most workings. Cars at this level are my dream. Hoping the new wheel tire combo really works out. Many thanks.
Steve, your genuine personality and passion for what you’re famous for comes through. I just want to applaud your style. That said… I love your content and how well you educate your viewers. I can even keep my wife engaged (Dewy helps enormously!) which is a bonus, because we’re both dog lovers. I know this is not relevant to your subject matter, but if it helps your algorithm, 👍🏼 Always enjoy seeing the end result, the hp gains the expert craftsmanship… Please keep up the good work. Hoping to see the Wagon 2.0 back at it!
Thanks Steve you show us things about your car we rarely would see any where else. You are so right that car is beautiful, many had hearts in there throats when it kissed the wall.
Steve, that rear end is looking freaking awesome. The best thing about it, is you are so humble and modest, with -0% arrogance. It wouldn't be that good without your skill, determination, knowledge, and countless hours of effort, trial and error! I salute you Sir! And not forgetting Dewey's approval! 🙂😎🤓❤ Anyone who say "look at me I'm brilliant" is an arrogant 🤬🤬👿 who is far less talented than they think they are, and not a very nice person.
I believe some of the reasoning behind the floating design of the rotor with those slider nuts is for thermal expansion and contraction. Those rotors get red hot and the metal would fail if it was directly mounted where the mounting points couldn't expand with the rest of the rotor.
BTW the rotor should "rattle" on the mounting lugs when everything is tightened up. If if doesn't, there is a problem. Burr, glop in between the lug and the slot, etc.
Rotor plate is mounted with keyed nuts so it can expand out from the middle with braking force heat and not distort the assembly. Then as it cools it pulls back in.
Ive work in heavy industry since i was 19, mines, steel plant, saw mill etc and i get pretty jaded seeing massive pumps, turbines, crushers etc. Seeing that tiny little shaft come out of the rear end (yes i laughed typing that)knowing it handles all the power from that engine, truly puts into perspective how powerful the stuff i work with really is. Like a 2ft diameter pinion to drive a SAG mill etc. Absolutley wild
Great videos Steve watch all your stuff, you might want some extra clearance side to side for driving at the track on those tires i would think those sidewalls would move some as your going around turns, i realize wheel already has tire stretched pretty far just wonder if it still might move a little, love dewey appreciate you sharing all your knowledge with us.
28:00 “i’m not bragging but how did i end up with something so nice” my good sir, if you worked as hard as you have to build the company you have with the customer and fan base you have to support you, you’re allowed to brag on yourself a little bit. 95% of people who sit down and watch these style videos and channels don’t have a single idea of what it costs to build this level of machines, the hours put in to make everything work, the amount of people and knowledge it takes to end up anywhere competitive and still win. you’ve built your business from the ground up with the knowledge you had and the knowledge you’ve gained from trying different things out, and yet when you could capitalize for yourself and build a fast car that no one knows what you’re running, you’re showing youtube videos of the changes you make, the setups you’re changing to, and even selling some of the engine combos youve made yourself. needless to say steve, when you’re bragging on the stuff that you’re thankful for and the stuff you worked hard for, you don’t owe anyone a “i’m sorry” or “i don’t mean to brag”
