While changing my brake pads, I noticed that my rotors needed turning. When removing the rotor disk, I mistakenly went too far and removed the hub assembly as well. It shouldn't have been much of a production, as I would have liked to repack the bearings, etc., but on our particular Volvo the front hub/disk assembly is not what normally comes with that model. In fact, the Haynes and Chilton manuals do not even reference it. I was told that they are, in fact, the hub/disk assembly for the rear wheels and, in the true Volvo spirit, they occasionally substituted the rear wheel assembly for the front. Thus, the system is a ball-bearing (versus Timkin) system and is, for the lack of a better word, "closed."

The hubs are only 3 years old, so the system looks clean and well greased. However, when I was trying to carefully put the hub back on the spindle without disturbing anything, the outer-bearing, inside race fell out. It slipped out very easily, but I cannot for the life of me get it back in.

Any suggestions? I am hoping not to get a completely new hub assembly and wish to fix the one I have. Is there a way to take out the bearings/races and clean and re-pack this kind of system? If so, what kind of bearing grease should I use, as I am not sure what was on there, and I don't know if your standard high-temp brake grease should be used on the ball-bearing system.

HELP!

Thanks!