Other Wheel bearings seeping oil?

HeyWaitUp

HeyWaitUp

So I've had the rear wheel off my sons bike for a day or so while we give it some tlc and I've noticed that in the morning it looks like the wheel bearings have seeped a little bit of oil. They are sealed bearings...is this normal? I thought bearings were packed with grease, not oil? It's about half a drop of oil. I kinda just want to ignore it and hope for the best because I don't want to take the chance of ruining the seal when I try to take it off. But I'm also kind of anal and don't want to let it go if I really should fix it. I'm going to take him riding for the first time on Saturday and I don't want to do anything dumb that'll delay the trip! Thanks for the input...
 
bobkyle2

bobkyle2

Get it off the ground and spin it and inspect, Just make sure there is no weird noises in the area and no play in the bearings....
 
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ossagp

you may be seeing brake fluid, if you haven't got a real visual of where it is coming from. if it is coming from the bearing for sure, make sure that it isn't water that is seeping back out. Sealed is kind of a relative term, most of the ones would be more accurately call "shielded".
 
HeyWaitUp

HeyWaitUp

Yeah it's definitely not brake fluid because it's a little crf70 with a drum brake. If I leave the wheel standing up (leaning against the stand) it collects at the very bottom of the bearing. This is the bearing that lives inside the brake assembly and the inside of that all looked fine, other than some pad dust...meaning that when it's assembled it doesn't seep...
 
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ossagp

Shove the axle through and see if you have bearing play. It is kind of a guess as to what lube was used. Sorry, I get so used to disks. One of my xr's still has a drum and I almost forget how to deal with it.
 
spooly

spooly

pop off the baring seal carefully with a Stanley blade and pump in some good water proof grease with a surenge the tackier the greas the better. .the standard grease in most barings is shi..t...I always regress new sealed barings before the go in..skf barings I use
 
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MikeinFresno

what spooly said, cheap grease stock. The plastic "seal" will come off with the point of a razor blade or sharp tool. Pop it off, clean out what you can and put good grease back in. Then push the seal back on. Work it around gently with a screw driver tip and it should pop in.
 
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