The way I look at it that the grease gets semi-liquid as it warms up ..
so the bottom of the housing is say, an inch deep in semi-liquid grease
and it naturally is getting to the ball and roller bearings.

I am amazed at how well wheel bearings last with the grease that they get.
I sure don't think just greasing either bearing and leaving the housing
pretty empty of grease will work very well.

the grease I have used lately ..
the last couple of years on several wheel bearing jobs is ..
either ....
Lucas brand 'Red N Tacky # 2'
Mulit-purpose EP  Grease,
fortified with Anti-seize .
For maximum surface protection
540 F drop point
NLGI Automotive wheel bearing and chassis lubricant GL-LB

OR ..
Valvoline Crimson Heavy-Duty Grease Applications ....for
trucking, mining, construction, agricultural
NLBI No 2.
it also says NLGI Automotive chassis lubricant LB ..

those both work for me.
I do not use Disc Brake wheel bearing grease in the rear wheel brgs..
I use this more 'agricultural' red grease in the rear wheel bearings
..on german bearings..
and a good amount of it.

scott
turbovans

On 4/20/2012 9:07 AM, Don Hanson wrote:
> On Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 8:46 AM, Alistair Bell<albell@shaw.ca>  wrote:
>
>> After I replaced a relatively new inside rear wheel bearing the other day,
>> I got to thinking about how the grease is supposed to stay in that bearing.
>> It is an open ball bearing (17 mm id, 35 mm od, 17 mm thick ,NSK6207 C3 or
>> KOYO 6207R) and when you are installing your supposed to pack the bearing
>> itself with grease and also add grease in the housing (where the spacer
>> is). I don't understand how adding grease to the housing helps, I can't see
>> how grease there is supposed to get into the bearing.
>>
>> So I wonder if using a sealed version of the bearing would be better? They
>> are available, KOYO 6207 2RS for example.
>>
>> Am I missing something in my understanding of ball bearings in this
>> application?
>>
>> alistair
>>
>     I think you are meant to put enough grease into the hub so that there is
> no room for the inner bearing to shed the stuff into the space between the
> bearings.   That is what I did.   Also, there are two types of grease, one
> is marked "High Temp" or "Disc Brake"...I used that rather than just normal
> all purpose grease that could get spun out of the wheel bearings when it
> gets really hot.
>
>    Don Hanson
>