Repacking rear wheel hub bearings?

[trenths]

I need to replace the brake pads on the rear. Wbenever I have done this on other rront wheel drive cars I have I have also made a point to repack the grease in the wheel (hub) bearings. However, I can't find any mention of doing this in the Haynes shop manual. How often does this need to be done or does it need to be done at all? The car has about 62,000 mi. on it.

[ragtopcav]

The rear hubs are a sealed for life bearing affair, with a built in abs sensor, if either fail you have to bin the lot

[earthworm]

The Haynes manual is very limited in its scope, but it does make a fair underbody protection pad when employing a floor jack, but a 2 by 6 by 12 wood block is better.

IMO, this renewing of grease should be done at year 10 or a little sooner - used to be at 36k miles at one time - but this was unnecessary unless a man has the rear axle immersed in water occasionally..

Don't forget to document this, a 15 to 20 year old car is worth more when properly serviced - I wonder if anyone does this ??

Saab used to have their own "special" heavy lubricant for this purpose and the front joints.
The CVs had their own particular grease.

My parts book shows the rear hub as an assembly - available at the local friendly Saab dealer for only $495.00 (fabricated price !)
I see no separate bearings nor seal; is this one of these accursed lifetime deals ??

[earthworm]

The bearings probably will last a "lifetime" - what ever that is.
But after being removed, that normally can be renewed simply by matching the manufacturers numbers.
The seal ?? Save the seal !! The ABS sensor ??

And be thankful; with the VW Passat, when the brake rotor is worn down, and this does happen at 150k miles, or earlier, the bearings must be removed(if one wants to reuse them) when installing a new rotor..
The company saves at the expense of the car-owner..

The Saab is more like a Mercedes in many aspects..

[trenths]

I certainly agree with you, earthworm, about the limitations of the Hayne's shop manual. I have used several other Haynes manuals for our other cars we have owned and although certainly none of them would pass as a professional mechanic's reference, they were considerably more detailed than the one for the Saab. It was obviously authored in the UK. I spend most of my time trying to figure out the terminology they use for various components so I can then reference the appropriate section. I have learned, for instance, that "span" equals "wrench" in U.S. repair terms and a "further spanner" means "a second wrench". That one cracks me up. Given the international flavor of this forum, I hope that doesn't offend anyone.