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Okay, I'm going to overhaul my hubs. I have the cone wrenches ordered, I've seen pictures but one thing. What exactly is "packing with grease?" Is it just liberally greasing each bearing or do you put them in place and completely surround them with grease. How much grease? The more the better or watch out??? These wheels are so old that I'm afraid that there won't be any grease on the bearings to go by!
Thanks!
Well, if you put in too much, it will just squish out when you tighten the cones. Start with everything clean - inside of hub, cones, bearings. I squirt with WD-40 and wipe clean. Then put a thin layer of grease inside the hub (1/16-1/8 inch thick) where the bearings will ride. Rub grease on each ball bearing before you put it in. When all the bearings are in, you can dab a bit more grease on the rows of bearings to fill the space between them. Then put a thin layer on the bearing surface of the cones and re-assemble. I try to err on the side of being liberal with the grease, but if much squished out when you tighten things up, you're wasting grease.
That's exactly what I wanted to know. I looked in my books and on the park tool website, but no one ever says exactly what packing with grease is! You explained it beautifully.