Bearing Packer Review
Howdy campers,
Today is the day we talk about the #BearingPackers that we used for our #Airstream.
We did use 2 different styles, and that is simply because the first version broke.
The first packer we will call WHITE, and the second we will call RED. This is just for ease of reading and reference. The exact names and brands will be listed as the title of the breakdown for said part, as well as the end of this review along with other pertinent information.
Performance Tools Bearing Packer $8
White was very cheap. To say the least, it was more our fault for trying to take the cheaper route. However, we already had the other needed items such as the grease gun it would attach to and the grease, so to us this seemed like the smarter purchase at the time.
Red was $30 which is not exactly expensive, but keep in mind we have a budget we are working with. Even though we have said budget, we are still going to be living in the Airstream and would do what needs to be done to accomplish this goal.
Let's break it down shall we.
Here is a glimpse at our setup we had while doing this job. Link to this post at the end.
Bearing Packer (WHITE shitty one) Brand Name #PerformanceTool #BearingPacker
This $8 version (pictured below) required a grease gun (which we had) simple design with 2 cones and the gun. The cone was plastic, but the middle of the cones where metal and the part that screwed onto the #greasegun was also metal. He put the 1st barring in the gun, the grease went into the barring fine. The problems came when unscrewing the cone to take out the barring. He cleaned off his hands and tried to take it apart, he did not cross thread but the other part was basically glued down and wouldn’t come off. It took about an hour to try and get it to come off, even after it was cleaned off and such. At $8 it was a waste of money, simply because it required a lot more cleanup(used an unnecessary amount of grease), it broke after the 1st barring, and it wouldn’t adjust to fit the inner barring.
Lisle Handy Packer Bearing Packer $30
We did not like this one, but someone may like it or not have these problems. However, we do not recommend buying this.
Barring Packer (better one RED) Brand Name #LisleHandyPacker #BearingPacker
The $30 one was completely made of plastic(pictured below). It was a thick-walled plastic cup that has a rubber sealed floor pan that pushes into it coating everything in grease. First, you put the grease in the cup, put in the barring, then push in the sealer. This pushes grease into all parts of the barring, and takes out the old grease (that was difficult to get out from cleaning). This was very useful because the old grease collected on the top of the container to make easy cleanup. This packer also stores the new grease in the bottom of the cup, as well as has a top to keep it airtight(red cap).
In our opinion and experience, this is the packer to get, especially if you will be doing this more than once, have multiple trailers, or you know you will be doing it more than just the one time for your project( in our case we are doing all for the work whether mechanical or not on the Airstream) so it is definitely worth the $30.
Overall, we should have just gone with the more expensive one as it was less of a headache overall and did the job #efficiently.
After making the mistake of buying the WHITE version we realized that we shouldn’t have tried to skimp on a very important job. But you live and you learn and you regroup to get things done.
So, if you take anything from us, it is do not skimp and just get the RED version.
Both or our packers were bought at #Oreilly’s Auto Parts Store
The White Version is called: Performance Tools Bearing Packer $8 (white cones)
The Red Version is called: Lisle Handy Packer Bearing Packer $30 (hard plastic cup)
Grease we used: #LucasOil #XTra heavy duty grease (green tube)
-The Whitten’s-
