repacking wheel bearings and torque specs

[tastyratz]

I suspect I need to retorque and potentially re-grease a rear wheel bearing on my car while I'm in there. I wanted to cast a net and get some feedback.

First off I know the s14 torque spec is 275 ft lbs (s13 should be but isn't by the book). I know the proper way is to go buy a $200 3/4 drive tq wrench I would never use for anything else, and torque to spec. In absence of that, how much torque is really too much torque? Is my only option really that? Would cranking down very hard with an impact after just maxing out my 150 ft lb wrench to get an idea suffice?

If I want to re-grease, I know you should not mix grease types. I do not want to pull the whole thing apart to clean out and switch types right now (nor do I have time I DD my s14). What kind of grease is OEM nissan? What is a good COMPATIBLE grease to add and not have issues with in a few years?

[bb4_96]

I thought they were sealed?

[merks]

Pretty sure they are sealed too. You can buy bearing pretty cheap from any auto parts store. I looked for my s14 and the most I saw was 50 bucks.

If you don't want to buy a torque wrench just go rent one.

[KendallH]

Project Silvia - The Official Guide to Not Screwing Up Your Wheel Bearings Like I Did > MotoIQ (http://www.motoiq.com/magazine_articles/articletype/articleview/articleid/893/project-silvia-the-official-guide-to-not-screwing-up-your-wheel-bearings-like-i-did.aspx)

Proper torque on wheel bearings is very important. Rent/borrow/buy the correct equipment.

[tastyratz]

good point on the rental.
The fronts are sealed, but I think I remember the rears being accessible just once you remove the axle nut and dust cover.
I know I can also just press in new ones, but I would rather wait till I have more time to mess with them in the event that I even need to (still up in the air on if that's my issue)

Car has 150k miles, I see a grease top off for now almost as regular maint being easily accessible.

[az_240]

I repacked my front wheel bearings like the link above (s14). I have to say it's not worth it IMO. Getting the bearing races out is harder then that link makes it look. You have to bend them to get them out which can put cracks in them and you risk breaking the fingers off. Also the cap that pops off the back does not want to pop back on after removing no matter what I do. I have yet to put them on my car...I'm pretty worried about it. I'll eventually just get new front hubs but it will be scary driving on these for a while.

If your rear hubs aren't making any noise I wouldn't worry about it. As soon as they do I'd just buy new hubs. The rears are usually pretty cheap anyway.

Edit: I ended up running those wheel bearings for several thousand miles without a problem. I purchased new OEM wheel bearings anyway though and am now running those.