Needle bearing help!

[bigred514]

i have a 2002 f250 4x4 and in the drivers side hub it keeps chewing up needle bearings. ive replaced u-joints, axle shafts and all seals any ideas? i have replaced the bearings 3 times now.
thanks

[Fordpowerstroke350]

Did you replace only the bearings or bearings and races? If you have a bad race it will chew up the bearing

[bigred514]

what exactly is a race

[Crazy_Canuck]

that bearing he is talking about is a needle bearing in its own race/cage. i don't have any answers. i have changed them as well but the only other thing that can be done is to build a grease device and grease them often. seen a description of a device here a couple years ago. hard to explain but it forces grease from between the stub shaft and wheel bearing hub through to the inside by the stub shaft u-joint.

[Crazy_Canuck]

Originally Posted by bigred514

what exactly is a race

the roller parts of a bearing, needles or ball, usually ride on a polished metalic replacable surface. this is called a bearing race. This perticular needle bearing comes in a cage which doubles as a race for the outside and the needles also run directly on the stub shaft for the inside portion.
hope that describes it effectivly.

[85f350]

how do you safely get those needle bearing assemblys out of there? I have a chewed up one and I think its due to the ujoint so I was going to do the joint and swap the needles if the wheel bearing seemed ok...