Narrative:

Found right nose wheel inner bearing seal leaking grease. Called maintenance and entered ACARS write-up. Maintenance wiped off excess grease; but did not address the actual leak; as stated in the maintenance release action. I have had two previous encounters with this exact same problem: the first in february 2012 in ZZZ and one in october 2013 in ZZZ1. Both times the wheel was replaced and we were told by maintenance that there is no way of checking the condition of the bearing without disassembling it; and therefore the only solution was to replace the wheel. It is approximately a 20-minute procedure. In 2012; the captain and I were pressured to take the flight; but we felt uncomfortable and the captain insisted it be replaced. I was contacted by the union flight safety committee thanking us for insisting on the proper repair of an obviously potential safety of flight item. Last week; after discussion with maintenance [about] my prior experience on the same item; they also chose to replace the wheel. On this occasion in ZZZ2; they did not. In fact; initially they did not even want to come and discuss it with us in the cockpit until we insisted they do so. At that point; the maintenance supervisor came to talk with us. He told us that mechanic X had wiped the excess grease and signed-off the write-up referencing a section he referred to as chapter 32-45-03 in the maintenance manual (M/M). He explained that there was no history of vibration or other problems with the nose wheel. I discussed my previous experience in ZZZ and ZZZ1; as well as the [comments from the] chairman of the union committee from 2012. He [maintenance supervisor] insisted that there was no further maintenance required and it was a legal sign-off; even though they did not address the cause of the actual leak itself. Based on that conversation; the captain and I discussed and decided that it was safe to continue. In hindsight; the question still remains as to why other maintenance stations conclude differently with exactly the same issue regarding the wheel bearing seal. In my 12 years of experience doing walk-arounds on this fleet; I have only found this issue three times; which leads me to believe it is not a common issue. Two out of three of these occurrences have been after we have changed our takeoff profiles to an unbalanced field concept; which has resulted in far higher rotation speeds. This could be causing more bearing problems and should be something we keep an eye on.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Two pilots report the right nose wheel inner bearing seal was found leaking grease on a B757 aircraft during a walk-around. First Officer questions whether the newly implemented higher aircraft speeds prior to rotation are contributing to the leaking grease and why Maintenance Stations are not consistent with decisions to replace the tire and bearings when faced with the same issue.

Narrative: Found right nose wheel inner bearing seal leaking grease. Called Maintenance and entered ACARS write-up. Maintenance wiped off excess grease; but did not address the actual leak; as stated in the Maintenance Release action. I have had two previous encounters with this exact same problem: The first in February 2012 in ZZZ and one in October 2013 in ZZZ1. Both times the wheel was replaced and we were told by Maintenance that there is no way of checking the condition of the bearing without disassembling it; and therefore the only solution was to replace the wheel. It is approximately a 20-minute procedure. In 2012; the Captain and I were pressured to take the flight; but we felt uncomfortable and the Captain insisted it be replaced. I was contacted by the Union Flight Safety Committee thanking us for insisting on the proper repair of an obviously potential safety of flight item. Last week; after discussion with Maintenance [about] my prior experience on the same item; they also chose to replace the wheel. On this occasion in ZZZ2; they did not. In fact; initially they did not even want to come and discuss it with us in the cockpit until we insisted they do so. At that point; the Maintenance Supervisor came to talk with us. He told us that Mechanic X had wiped the excess grease and signed-off the write-up referencing a section he referred to as Chapter 32-45-03 in the Maintenance Manual (M/M). He explained that there was no history of vibration or other problems with the nose wheel. I discussed my previous experience in ZZZ and ZZZ1; as well as the [comments from the] Chairman of the Union Committee from 2012. He [Maintenance Supervisor] insisted that there was no further maintenance required and it was a legal sign-off; even though they did not address the cause of the actual leak itself. Based on that conversation; the Captain and I discussed and decided that it was safe to continue. In hindsight; the question still remains as to why other Maintenance Stations conclude differently with exactly the same issue regarding the wheel bearing seal. In my 12 years of experience doing walk-arounds on this fleet; I have only found this issue three times; which leads me to believe it is not a common issue. Two out of three of these occurrences have been after we have changed our takeoff profiles to an unbalanced field concept; which has resulted in far higher rotation speeds. This could be causing more bearing problems and should be something we keep an eye on.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.