code58

Artbuc- I am assuming by sticky you mean in turning it with the (timing) belt off it wasn't smooth. They have an absolutely amazing seal arrangement. If the coolant can ever get by the coolant seal, it then has a more than ample drain hole (about 1/4 in. channel)and then an elaborate seal system to keep it from getting to the bearings. I see NO WAY POSSIBLE for coolant to ever get to the double bearing in that pump. Which is the way most American car pumps go out, water gets past the seal, bearings are exposed to coolant and go out. Virtually not a possibility with that pump. And not only that, the grease in everything I have cut apart (still have to cut upper idler pulley apart) was totally "live". It is probably synthetic. Even though the idler bearings are "sealed", it is almost childs play to get into them. The seal on each side is easily removed with a SMALL pointed pick. I did this before I decided to cut them apart. Probably no reason why anyone would want to do it but you could easily remove the "seals", grease the bearing and put the seals back. They are only held in by the rubber edge on them, which fits in a groove. There is no crimping of any kind. I mic'ed the ***** out of everything I cut apart (everything takes the same size ball) and they all looked new and mic'ed EXACTLY the same. I personally think any rebuilder who rebuilds those W/P's is nuts! It's quite a piece of engineering and does not lend itself to rebuilding. The front of the housing (behind the pulley) is "spun" to hold the bearing and shaft assy. in before the pulley is pressed on. I was highly impressed! More on this later....

thomas1

Hey Roger, we are two of a pair, you dont know how many times I have removed the soft seal and regreased bearings. Never have had one fail from doing that. That is too funny..... tom

code58

Hi Thomas- I have looked at enough "sealed" bearings that indeed did seem to be sealed. When I looked at these (I was reluctant to mess with them because they seemed to be as smooth and tight as new), I thought "oh, what the heck, I'll keep 'em and never use 'em again so nothing to lose". I was amazed at how easy to remove the seal was and there was no damage to it, just popped right out. I think I would want to use synthetic grease on those if I regreased them, just because they aren't easy to get to. They are of such high quality, I have a hard time believing they would ever wear out under those circumstances. Reminds me a little of the u-joints in my son's '97 Suburban. They bought the car new (ordered it), so I know the complete history. When our son was in Seattle for about 3 weeks in the fall of '07 (when our grandson was in SCH with leukemia) I did a bunch of major maintenance. I knew the u-joints had never been replaced and with 170k mi. I thought they were overdue. I bought new joints and when I took the original ones out, i almost returned the new ones. The original Spicer joints had so little wear that I ALMOST greased them and reinstalled them. It is so good to see that someone still builds high quality parts. Toyota is certainly a customer of those companies!

thomas1

Yea, I used to pack them with Polymolybodiumdisufide grease. Now I use synthetic. I have never, and I repeat never lost a bearing that I repacked. I actually would take new bearings when I worked for my company and replace the grease. They never failed after that. I think some of the old bearing companies put inferior grease in them so that they would fail, and be replaced. Your right, the Toyota bearings are generally very high quality.

code58

Thomas, I'm not even going to try to pronounce the name of "your" grease. My wife and I got new computers about the 1st. of the year and have been slow to get them all set up. On top of that, I have been dealing with some bad back problems for about 3 weeks. Then I have to get my pictures from my new camera set up and learn how to post 'em. One of these days I will actually accomplish all this. Then you can see the mayhem in the bearing field!