is what you should do according to many older publications. What is the reasoning behind this?

I have seen T hubcaps packed with grease, but mine doesn't and nor do many that I know of. Just curious....

Nevin, I think the theory would be that if you have grease 'leaking' past the bearings/seals in the hub, it would continue to leak out until there was something to "push back on it"

The empty hubcap leaves plenty of room for grease to leak into. If the hubcap was full of greae, any grease that wanted to leak out past the bearings would have 'nowhere to go', as the hubcap would allready be full. Therefore, the grease wouldn't leak out of the hubs.

Also, if you packed a hubcap full of grease, when you installed it on the hub, the turning action of you putting the cap on would 'force' extra grease INTO the bearing, by way of hydraulic pressure.

I'm not sure how well that arguement works in practice, but grease is cheap, so I don't think it would hurt to try!

Nope, only the front hub bearings should have grease in them. A hubcap full of grease doesn't do anything except maybe give you a place to poke your finger into a bunch of extra grease to use it somewhere else.

Never put grease into the back hubcap or anywhere else near the axle / hub. I just saw that last year, a guy filled the rear hubcaps full of grease and I took off the axle nuts with my finger and pulled the wheels by hand--if they require anything less than a wheel puller they are way too loose.

I like liberal amounts of grease but nowhere near the rear hub and axle fit. This is the only place I know of that should be stuck tight and a fight to remove.

Front hubcaps full of grease won't hurt anything but it is only storage for grease that isn't doing anything.

Tim Moore

it makes a lot of sense to me....with a model t you have water [radiator top or petcock], gas, [petcock under tank], oil [hopefully lower engine petcock]whenever you need it...a spare hubcap full of fresh grease might come in handy!!

when you finish you can wash the grease off your finger with gas from the car!!

Tim is right, only the bearings need grease, any that works out stays out , thats a good reason to use a good quality grease that will stay in the bearing. Have fun Keith B

Every time I see a post about grease in hubcaps, it reminds me when I used to put little stones in hubcaps,...... when I was young,.......boy did we get a kick out of that.

Why did you all put stones in the hubcap?

Let me clarify,.....it was in the good old fifties,...young kids getting into mischief,.....put stones in hub caps of the cars in the fifties,....boy did they make a racket going down the street.

If putting grease in hubcaps is just a way to store grease, why not put beer in hubcaps?

Dick, you do that about 30 minutes later !!

Garnet

One cap for spare grease, one for gas one for coolant and one for air.

I got to thinking about it while I was working and
figured that was what it was all about. Thanks
for the clarification.

Dick,

Those would be hubTaps.

Vince M

Vince, you may be onto something. Maybe we should talk to that Belgian brewer down on Pestalozzi Street and see if there are any possibilities worth pursuing...

The reason for packing grease in hubcaps-front only or in later wheel bearing dust caps was that the older grease had a parafin base that melted at a much lower temp than the new grease. If a bearing started to get dry on grease and got hot, the extra grease was supposed to melt some and keep the bearings from failing, or so the theory went. I think it dated back to horse drawn vehicle days. Modern grease doesn't melt with heat or at least not a low enuff temperature to save a bearing. Pack the bearings themselves full and smear some on the races and install them. Wipe off any excess on the nuts and install the hubcaps dry.
As a side note, in 1959, my parents moved from Southern Indiana to upstate New York and we flat towed my grandfather's 25 coupe there behind a 1958 plymouth. Dad had pulled the u-joint out so the transmission wouldn't be turning, and had a towbar that my uncle had made that bolted to the front axle and wishbone. It towed just fine-this was before most interstates- but the first evening, Dad had to repack the front wheel bearings, since the grease had gotten hot and was being thrown out the rear seals of the hubs. Our pet dog rode in the T all the way to NY and dad tried hard to teach him to put his paws on the wheel so it would look like he was driving! No luck there!! The T is now back here in Indiana by way of Virginia, and Ohio. It has been in the family since 1942. The only car my grandpa would drive was a T. He had several before this one. It is unrestored, other than a paint job back in the early sixties and routine repars to keep it on the road. I rebuilt the rear end last winter after the pinion gear broke 2 1/2 teeth off. The pinion bearing had failed, broken into little pieces. It already had bronze spacers on the carrier, made by my dad, long before they were commonly available.

Bill, that's a great read, and would explain why only the early books say to pack the front hubcaps full of grease. Thanks.

Wrong,The early T's had ball bearings and how do you pack a ball bearing?? The hubcaps on a model T are nothing more than good looking grease cups same as found on the rest of the car/truck.Bud.

Nevin,The early T's maby 16 or before?? had ball bearings so how do you pack a ball bearing?? The hubcaps on a model T are the same as the grease cups found on the rest of the car! The fine thread on the hubs and caps created a lot of power to force clean grease in and dirt and water out! There is/was a reason why they were made that way as the world was then not as it is now! Bud. Soft or hard grease they will do the job if used as intended! PS Can any tell me why when this modern wonder grease is available do Semi Trucks run Oil Hubs?? Bud.

Bud. Semi trucks run oil for numerous reasons. Probably, the most significant is, the hub caps are clear plastic windows, so, its easy to check, and fill, the hubs with lubricant.

So what would happen if you drilled some small holes in the tanged washer that keeps the front bearings from unscrewing, put a zerk fitting in the hub caps, and just pumped a grease gun until some came thru the inner ft wheel bearing seals? Wonder why Henry didn't think of that?

Gunny,if you want to try that,send me an email. I have some aftermarket hub cas with zerk on them.

Thunder,The truth is oil is a much better lube than grease,and Gunny,Henry and many makers did think of that but 100 years ago how many had grease guns?? Bud.

Kenneth. Yuo are exactly right. Thats another one of the numerous reasons. Thats why all of my trucks, have the oil hubs, and the window hub caps.

I had a really neat brass grease gun dated 1915 that fit rear axle grease cups but in my effort to clean out the garage, it went with the mother-lode of all my parts I sold in December.
It's the brass one in the picture.