I am in the process of replacing upper shock bushings for the rear suspension. While I am at it and the shocks are out of the way, I am trying to re grease or replace grease for rear wheel bearings with new grease. I read attached article that there is a 5/8 cap that can remove on wheel hub carrier to add grease. I looked and cannot find the cap. Is it cap only for older Jaguars pre x300 only? Do I need to remove main hub nut to access the bearing for new grease? I noticed my 1997 Jaguar XJ6 does have red loctite on hub nut. There is nothing wrong with wheel bearing; this is just part of maintenance since the car is over 20 years old. Current mileage is 54,000 miles.




https://www.jagexp.com/article/xj-wh...intenance.html


https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...enance-198170/

 

Yes ,

Removing , cleaning , and repacking with bearing rated grease is a recommended scheduled maintenance item . Easier said then done and most bearings are only replaced on a as failed basis .

 

Hi annamiata,

The axle passes through the rear hub and is secured by the nut, which is torqued to something like 230 ft. lbs., so the only way to access the bearings is to remove the nut and disconnect the hub from the axle. The large images at Jag-Lovers still aren't working, but you can see what is involved with my thumbnails and descriptions on replacing and regreasing the bearings:

Wheel Bearings Part 1 of 4
Wheel Bearings Part 2 of 4
Wheel Bearings Part 3 of 4
Wheel Bearings Part 4 of 4

Cheers,

Don

 

Right, older Jags.

And you're not missing all that much, really. On the oldies with the grease cap you could add grease to the hub but there's really not any way to ensure that any of it actually gets *into* the bearings. Better than nothing, I suppose.

Cheers
DD

 

Hi Don,

Thanks for the attached guide. I do have couple questions.
1. Do I need to remove entire wheel hub carrier as instructed or just remove wheel hub with a pulley for regreasing?

2. My torque wrench only goes up to 150 ft.lbs. My 1/2 inch air wrench go up to 350 ft.lbs but its not adjustable to actual required 230 ft.lbs. Would over torque damages the wheel bearing?

 

Hi annamiata,

The job can be done without removing the lower hub fulcrum bolt, by removing the axle nut and tilting the hub forward and off the axle. You may need to disconnect the axle at the differential and it may take a puller or some other application of force to get the axle out of the hub.

With the hub tilting out on its fulcrum bolt, you can proceed to remove and clean the roller bearings, regrease them and reinstall with new seals, but an important part of this job is the fulcrum bearings, so you really need to remove the fulcrum bolt and check the fulcrum bearings, so it makes the most sense to just remove the hub from the car. I found it easiest to first loosen or remove the axle nut while the car is sitting on the ground, then disconnect the parking brake cable at the inline connector near the yoke, disconnect the axle from the diff, remove the fulcrum bolt and carry the entire assembly to the bench for the rest of the job.

Note that Jaguar insists that the axle nuts must be replaced. They have a helical insert that prevents them from loosening, and the insert is greatly distorted when torqued to 230 ft. lbs. so it cannot be reused. At least two members of the Jag-Lovers forum reported their axle nuts loosening after they reused them....

If you can't borrow or rent a torque wrench with 250 ft. lb. capacity, you can bring the car to me and I can do the final torque for you (I'm not far away).

Cheers,

Don