Bearing solution?  It's in the bag

by Paul V. Arnold

Until a year ago, Rick Rankin says he repacked bearings "the stone-age way."

"We have a fleet of 13 vehicles and 10 trailers, and servicing them is maintenance's responsibility," says Rankin, the head of maintenance for Therma-Tron-X, a manufacturer of industrial paint finishing systems in Sturgeon Bay, Wis.

"To repack wheel bearings on the fleet, I'd take a grease gun and squirt some grease in and then use my fingers to run it in.  It makes a mess and, since you drop grease on the floor, you have a safety issue."

So Rankin cleaned up his act.

Now he removes the bearing and places it inside a Ziploc or similar resealable plastic bag.

"I got the idea from a farming magazine," he says, adding that you can use it for any kind of open, non-sealed bearing.  You toss the bearing in, squirt in a bunch of grease, push the air out, seal the bag and then squeeze it to work the grease into the bearing.  When you're done, you remove the bearing and reseal the bag."

The grease-filled bag can then be tossed or used for other projects.

"I keep it in my tool box," he says.  "It's handy when a need a dab of grease here or there."

However, Rankin doesn't reuse a bag for another bearing project.  "Use clean grease each time," he says.

This article appeared in the February/March 1999 issue of MRO Today magazine.  Copyright 1999.

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