Mainwheel bearing service / greasing?

[[email protected]]

My friend who has a 26E told me he recently disassembled his main wheel bearing as the wheel was noisy when landing, he felt it lacked grease and after regreasing and reassembling he reports the wheel is much quieter.
In my (31) Maintenance manual there is no mention of greasing the main bearing in the Lubrication Sheme (Section 8)
But in section 2 (Description of equipment) there is only this:

2.5.4 Maintenance of Landing Gear and Wheel Brake
Main Landing Gear
The maintenance of the main wheel is confined to visual inspection of
the tire, wheel rim, disc brake and shock absorber element. If badly
soiled, the landing gear should be cleaned immediately.
Also: do not forget to clean and lubricate the wheel bearings and shock
absorber bearings.

Does anyone have experience with this?
Forgive me if this has been a topic in the past, I looked through the site and the Technical site but could not find anything there.
Regards
Ed Marel
31047

[Darryl Ramm]

On Tuesday, March 20, 2018 at 3:21:24 AM UTC-7, wrote:
> My friend who has a 26E told me he recently disassembled his main wheel bearing as the wheel was noisy when landing, he felt it lacked grease and after regreasing and reassembling he reports the wheel is much quieter.
> In my (31) Maintenance manual there is no mention of greasing the main bearing in the Lubrication Sheme (Section 8)
> But in section 2 (Description of equipment) there is only this:
>
> 2.5.4 Maintenance of Landing Gear and Wheel Brake
> Main Landing Gear
> The maintenance of the main wheel is confined to visual inspection of
> the tire, wheel rim, disc brake and shock absorber element. If badly
> soiled, the landing gear should be cleaned immediately.
> Also: do not forget to clean and lubricate the wheel bearings and shock
> absorber bearings.
>
> Does anyone have experience with this?
> Forgive me if this has been a topic in the past, I looked through the site and the Technical site but could not find anything there.
> Regards
> Ed Marel
> 31047

I suspect you meant to post on the ASH26E owners group and not r.a.s.?

[[email protected]]

On Tuesday, March 20, 2018 at 12:13:20 PM UTC-4, Darryl Ramm wrote:
> On Tuesday, March 20, 2018 at 3:21:24 AM UTC-7, wrote:
> > My friend who has a 26E told me he recently disassembled his main wheel bearing as the wheel was noisy when landing, he felt it lacked grease and after regreasing and reassembling he reports the wheel is much quieter.
> > In my (31) Maintenance manual there is no mention of greasing the main bearing in the Lubrication Sheme (Section 8)
> > But in section 2 (Description of equipment) there is only this:
> >
> > 2.5.4 Maintenance of Landing Gear and Wheel Brake
> > Main Landing Gear
> > The maintenance of the main wheel is confined to visual inspection of
> > the tire, wheel rim, disc brake and shock absorber element. If badly
> > soiled, the landing gear should be cleaned immediately.
> > Also: do not forget to clean and lubricate the wheel bearings and shock
> > absorber bearings.
> >
> > Does anyone have experience with this?
> > Forgive me if this has been a topic in the past, I looked through the site and the Technical site but could not find anything there.
> > Regards
> > Ed Marel
> > 31047
>
> I suspect you meant to post on the ASH26E owners group and not r.a.s.?

Useful info on either.
I grease the wheel bearings in my Schleicher sailplanes about every 100 landings which is 3-5 years. I have yet to find that they needed greasing when inspecting. All are privately flown.
An overheating brake could cause this to be much sooner.
FWIW
UH

[Charlie M. (UH & 002 owner/pilot)]

Maybe he is looking for a general consensus since similar may apply across brands and models?
Or, maybe just an "oops" on what forum he was on?

[Charlie M. (UH & 002 owner/pilot)]

My "generic comment", is, a bearing is a bearing, regardless of what it is used in.
Ball bearings may be different than tapered roller bearings.
Preload may be different.
A mechanical engineer (which I am not, but decades dealing with bearings and dealing with ME's) will likely say, a bearing is a bearing. What was the design, how do you service?
Almost no need to say, "too much lube", unless you're spreading lube onto composites that you may need to repair.
Don't be stupid on lube, but if you think it needs lube, do it.
BTW, WD-40 is NOT a lube.......
Period.........

I likely have 10 different lubes in my shop. Some stick, some penetrate, some are sorta composite safe, some deal with weather and/or loads better.
Whatever.

Oh, have a nice day.
;-)

[Per Carlin]

After more than 40 years since manufacturing and about 2500 starts/landings was the bearings out of service on my LS1. Changed then with two new SKF bearings for about $8 each.
Have I lubed the the old ones, no they had rubber sealings wich effective makes lubing difficult, after consulting the SKF manual, these bearings do not require any kind of lube. They are the install and forget kind.

[jfitch]

On Tuesday, March 20, 2018 at 3:21:24 AM UTC-7, wrote:
> My friend who has a 26E told me he recently disassembled his main wheel bearing as the wheel was noisy when landing, he felt it lacked grease and after regreasing and reassembling he reports the wheel is much quieter.
> In my (31) Maintenance manual there is no mention of greasing the main bearing in the Lubrication Sheme (Section 8)
> But in section 2 (Description of equipment) there is only this:
>
> 2.5.4 Maintenance of Landing Gear and Wheel Brake
> Main Landing Gear
> The maintenance of the main wheel is confined to visual inspection of
> the tire, wheel rim, disc brake and shock absorber element. If badly
> soiled, the landing gear should be cleaned immediately.
> Also: do not forget to clean and lubricate the wheel bearings and shock
> absorber bearings.
>
> Does anyone have experience with this?
> Forgive me if this has been a topic in the past, I looked through the site and the Technical site but could not find anything there.
> Regards
> Ed Marel
> 31047

As I recall (and my recall is getting worse each year....) the ASH26E has sealed deep groove ball bearings. They should not be lubed, but rather replaced when beyond their service life.

[James Thomson[_2_]]

At 19:55 20 March 2018, jfitch wrote:
>On Tuesday, March 20, 2018 at 3:21:24 AM UTC-7,
wrote:
>> My friend who has a 26E told me he recently disassembled his main
wheel
>bearing as the wheel was noisy when landing, he felt it lacked grease
and
>after regreasing and reassembling he reports the wheel is much
quieter.
>> In my (31) Maintenance manual there is no mention of greasing the
main
>bearing in the Lubrication Sheme (Section 8)
>> But in section 2 (Description of equipment) there is only this:
>>
>> 2.5.4 Maintenance of Landing Gear and Wheel Brake
>> Main Landing Gear
>> The maintenance of the main wheel is confined to visual inspection of
>> the tire, wheel rim, disc brake and shock absorber element. If badly
>> soiled, the landing gear should be cleaned immediately.
>> Also: do not forget to clean and lubricate the wheel bearings and
shock
>> absorber bearings.
>>
>> Does anyone have experience with this?
>> Forgive me if this has been a topic in the past, I looked through the
>site and the Technical site but could not find anything there.
>> Regards
>> Ed Marel
>> 31047
>
If you have a Cleveland wheel their service manual (rather than the
glider manufacturer's manual) tells you to service the bearings and seals
annually or every 500 wheel miles which ever comes first. (Does
anyone record their wheel miles...?)

>As I recall (and my recall is getting worse each year....) the ASH26E
has
>sealed deep groove ball bearings. They should not be lubed, but rather
>replaced when beyond their service life.
>

[Charlie M. (UH & 002 owner/pilot)]

I would hazard a guess that by the time almost ANYONE gets 500 wheel miles on a sailplane wheel bearing, the airframe is long gone, even if someone rebuilds a 2-33 a few times (reference another thread about a "new" 2-33 for $75,000US).
;-).

[James Thomson[_2_]]

At 21:45 20 March 2018, Charlie M. UH & 002 owner/pilot wrote:
>I would hazard a guess that by the time almost ANYONE gets 500 wheel
miles
>on a sailplane wheel bearing, the airframe is long gone, even if someone
>rebuilds a 2-33 a few times (reference another thread about a "new" 2-33
>for $75,000US).
>;-).
>
Not true, actually. Our ASK21s do over 2000 launches per year, and have
done for the past 20 years. If you count tow-outs from the hangar,
retrieve to the launch point after landing, etc then 500 miles per year is

achievable. We look at the bearings each year, but we don't work out the

mileage!