Check out the video: Packing Grease
The grease in our wheel bearings have been their since Eisenhower was in the White House. So today, October 1st, we packed grease into Mrs. Martin’s wheel bearings. Thankfully New England is experiencing an Indian Summer, giving us a dry working environment on Per’s driveway. In Cuba they’d call us shade-tree-mechanics because we’re working in the shade of Per’s Beech tree.
This morning I dropped our 2 front tires and our spare, at a tire shop to be balanced (the back tires seemed OK to Per). With the Hudson on floor stands and the wheels off we had clear access to the brake housing where the wheel bearings are located. Per bought a can of new grease for the occasion. The purple lubricant came in a bright yellow Pennzoil can labeled Premium. Spending coin on expensive grease is a rarity for Per who, by philosophical choice, minimizes, conserves and reuses everyting he can including his McDonald’s coffee cups. But old grease, even cheap standard grease, was unacceptable for the all-important wheel bearings. Having the texture of peanut butter, Per dipped his index finger into the yellow can. Spreading the new grease around the wheel bearing casing, he also coated the bearings and themselves.
Packing the wheel bearings with the best possible grease is vital to keeping the bearings, which are in constant motion, from wearing down (as the front wheels turn so too do the wheel bearings). High heat is generated by the wheel bearings over prolonged travel. Good is knowing the old grease is gone.
Dan McNichol is a number-one bestselling author and an award-winning journalist. His published books, articles, thought-leadership papers and speaking events focus on mega construction projects in the United States and The Peoples Republic of China.
McNichol recently contributed to a front page story in The New York Times titled, “Trump-Sized Idea for a New President: Build Stuff”. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) / Boston Chapter named McNichol as one of nation’s outstanding journalists in 2014 and again in 2003. McNichol contributes to worldwide media outlets including: The New York Times, Engineering News Record (ENR), ABC World News, CBS News, CNN, Fox News, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) network, China Central Television (CCTV), TV Tokyo, MSNBC and PBS’s The NewsHour, National Geographic Channel, Discovery Channel, History Channel. McNichol is a frequent voice on National Public Radio (NPR).
ENR Magazine recently tapped McNichol as the magazine’s national correspondent for a cross country tour. McNichol and Aileen Cho, ENR’s senior transportation editor, drove in a 1949 Hudson Commodore with the tagline, “America’s infrastructure is as old, rusty and energy defunct as our original Detroit lead-sled.” The journalists wrote ENR print and online cover stories about the nation’s ailing infrastructure.
A former White House appointee, McNichol served the President on US policy issues surrounding transportation and infrastructure between 1991-1993. McNichol has worked in official capacities on the nation’s largest infrastructure projects: California High Speed Rail (2017), San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Replacement (2013) and The Big Dig, a.k.a. The Central Artery / Third Harbor Tunnel Project (2000).