03 Accord wheel bearing question

Hi:

I noticed recently that my 03 Accord rear wheel bearings look almost
identical to the ones in the 87 Accord I used to have, except the tabbed
washer in the 87 seems to have been replaced with what might be a seal. In
all rear wheel drive cars I ever owned, about every 35K miles I pulled off
the sleeve and bearings, cleaned everything with gas, re-greased the
bearings copiously and put everything back together. Same procedure on the
87 Accord rear bearings.

My 03 Accord owners manual says nothing about ever re-greasing the rear
wheel bearings. Have they added a good seal that's supposed to last forever
and keep out all dirt? I don't want to re-grease the bearings if it's not
needed. BTW, I was suprised that Honda was still using the peenable nut
system after 20 years. I guess it works well. The old castleated nut and
cotter pin didn't give you the infinite position possiblies. On the other
hand, you didn't have to buy 2 new nuts either. Also, does anyone know the
proper torque to use on the nuts? I had shop manual for the 87 but gave
them away when I traded it in.

Wayne

 

yes - leave them alone. they will last hundreds of thousands of miles
as-is. attempted relube generally introduces more grit and problems
than it could possibly solve.

they're $1.47 each at hondaautomotiveparts.com. a small price for
exactly correct torque.

180Nm iirc.

buy a new one! helminc.com.

 

Indeed! A 2003 is a very different animal from the '87. The rear wheel
bearings, as well as the front wheel bearings, are sealed precision
bearings. Leave them alone and they should be happy for many miles. When
there's a problem, they get replaced as a single assembly which usually
requires the use of a shop press.

Eric