How to Grease Bicycle Wheel Bearings

An important aspect of bicycle maintenance is to grease the bicycle wheel bearings. This helps to avoid costly future repairs and give you a much smoother, more comfortable ride. The wheel bearings are between the cup in the wheel hub and a cone screwed to the wheel axle.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 13 mm or 15 mm flat open wrench (depends on the bicycle)
• Adjustable wrench
• Small feeder syringe
• Green axle grease

1. Fit your wrench onto the bearing cone located between the locking nut and the hub to keep it in place.

2. Hold the locking nut with your adjustable wrench. Unscrew the locking nut, but don't open the bearing cone.

3. Grasp the axle and continue to turn the locking nut until it is just about off the axle.

4. Expose the bicycle wheel bearing by unscrewing the bearing cone.

5. Shoot the grease onto the wheel bearings with a small feeder syringe, and screw the cone back into place.

6. Turn the bicycle wheel over and repeat the process on the bearings on the other side of the wheel.

7. Screw the bicycle wheel's bearing cone and the lock nut back into place.

Tips & Warnings

• Take the wheels off the bicycle beef before greasing the wheel bearings.
• A mixture of 50 percent white teflon bicycle grease and 50 percent green axle grease works well on bicycle wheel bearings.
• Don't make the bearing cone too tight when screwing it back into place. Bicycle wheel bearings shouldn't have any play in them and need to roll smoothly.
• Don't use general-purpose bicycle grease on bicycle bearings.
• Be careful to only loosen one side of the axle at a time. This ensures the centering of the axle when reassembled.
• Avoid getting dirt into the wheel bearings by working in a clean area.

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