Pay some attention to your wheel bearings!

Subafury · Post by **Subafury** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 10:01 pm

found out the hard way why its good to check out your bearings esp if you dont know the state of them.
had practically no warning at all except for some minor clunks that i thought were cv spline related tht started when i changed diff a couple weeks ago.

anyways left from uni today for the long stretch down the freeway (20-30kms) and immediately heard some random clunks happening from the back. pulled over checked all cv's etc, couldnt work it out. kept going. rear of the car started having a mind of its own, randomly starting to slide around like drift style. noises got worse as speed got up to about 70kms. pulled over again still no evident cause. ended up travelling home at 50kms an hour. then almost home i lose brakes- have to pump them 4 times to get a response- then i see the wheel wobbling and smoke start coming from wheel. arrgh! it almost caught the hub on fire when i stopped at home, had to put out the smoke.
after crakin it apart what i guessed had happened. bearing seized and friction causing bits to bend and disentegrate.

burnt and mangled bits. the inner race was screwed as i could push all the 'balls' from the ball bearings out

wheel came off with drum cover

see the dimpled bit here on the left? is this normal or has it bent out?
i just wanna know if its safe to just replace the bearings (with sealed ones)- looks ok to me.

90brumby · Post by **90brumby** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 10:25 pm

man that suks i donno too much about it all but it looks ok

if u puttin seald ones in make sure u pack them with grease and then re seal them casue they come with basicly no grease in em

if u need somethin to get u mobile again of got MY rear suspenion here but i donno if thay r the same

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 10:27 pm

Wow, is that the paint on you wheel that is burnt?

Ive had wheel bearings go slowly, ie. grind when going around corners.

Thanks to Curlie and Chubby for helping me out when i was 600kms from home.

Subafury · Post by **Subafury** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 10:32 pm

yeh paint is burnt, luckily nothin else is.
my front bearings went slowly too with a grinding sorta noise- was surprised the way these ones went.

90brumby · Post by **90brumby** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 10:33 pm

also to add make sure u do both sides theres no point doin 1 n not the other

please tell me thats grease all ova the rear brakes n stuff not BF

SuBaRiNo · Post by **SuBaRiNo** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 10:36 pm

I have had the rear lock up on me once... it actually locked on as if my brakes were on though... and had some major issues getting the car home afterwards... i blaimed it on 90 Achres.

The rears are rollor bearings on them too aint they... if so i was told ya couldn't get sealed bearings for them.

On a bad note... when i did mine i had scortched and obviously effected something in my hubs and after replaceing the bearings i could never get rid of my wobbly rear wheel... ended up replacing the entire hug and swing arm, actually even the entire assemby off a donor car.

Dave

Subafury · Post by **Subafury** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 12:27 am

oh

im hoping i wont hve to do tht but hve located one incase. yes it is brke fluid , and little water. i hope no more leks out overnight :s

Matatak · Post by **Matatak** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 12:35 am

if that is brake fluid then expect to need new cylinder for sure
seems liek it wulda melted the seals inside it

to stop it wrap some rag around some of those locking pliers and then clamp it on the rake hose going to that side but not to tight (so u dont damage the hose)

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 3:05 am

Wow nice job!

Yeah they are roller bearings not ball bearings and Subarino is right, I don't rekon sealed ones are available.

I rekon other stuff would have been damaged especially given you loosing brakes like that.
Easiest to just replace the hub with another one complete with brakes and all then renew the bearings on both sides when you have time (sooner than later though!). We can whip off the one I've got in the yard just complete with the swing arm prolly tomorrow arvo. The bearings on that were fine last time I drove that car.

**edit - just had another look at the pics, the rubber boot on the right side of your brake cylinder looks very munted to me, also that dimple in the hub is definitely not sposed to be there! Swap out hub to be safe for sure =)

SuBaRiNo · Post by **SuBaRiNo** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 9:40 pm

i agree. i wasted a lot of time with mine... swap it all out if the parts are available.

Dave

Matatak · Post by **Matatak** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 2:42 pm

thught SubaFury wulda posted up by now
but neway

i went round yesterday giving him a hand.
we got a new swingarm and Hub setup from the generous AndrewT.
put that on then got 2 kits of bearings to put in....but to get the rear bearing out there is a huge Ring Nut that gets done up real tight....culdnt get it off and found nothing wrong with these new (but old) bearings neway
so we chanced it replaced the 2 seals and the front bearing while repacking the rear as best we culd. then put some new Brake shoes on and reassembled that side.

we did leave the other side for the time being as they felt fine. but will be done when he changes his diff over so the Shaft can come out. did put new shoes onto that side aswell and bled all the brakes out.

thats a bit of a dodgy write up but hope u understand

Subafury · Post by **Subafury** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 4:15 pm

yeh i understood- but just for those playing at home- the rear bearings are made up of 2 bearings inside one cylinder. we couldnt get one half out so just swapped the half we could get out.
brakes are sooo much better after a proper bleed. cheers to ya mat for helpin me out yesterday i owe ya. and to andrew t again for parts, i owe u too.

brendan · Post by **brendan** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 11:26 pm

Unrucky matt, good to hear yas sorted it out quick smart but

username · Post by **username** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 10:54 am

I took the hub off my car yesterday after hearing some bad noises and its not looking good. The thing is i would only be able to replace the closest bearing to the outer because i cant get the other one out without disconnecting the brake line or taking the drive shaft out, both things im not very confident in doing. Is there another way thats easier?

89lseries · Post by **89lseries** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 11:46 am

username (??) u do not have to disconnect brakelines, you can just take the caliper and hang it out of the way. me and my bro usually hang it to the strut using an ocky strap or rope. u do have to disconnect the hand brake cable off memory though. u should replace or get someone to replace the inner bearing as well as the seal on that side as chances are that the inner bearing is gone as well. the driveshaft does have to be out for this to happen though. it involves popping out the control arm ball joint, disconnecting the tie rod end from the hub and hitting a roll pin out on the g/box end (assuming that u already have the disc rotor and caliper off by your description) it is then a matter of hitting it free from the hub with a hammer (rubber hammer or put the castle nut back on the shaft to stop cross threading). get sealed bearings to replace the old ones as they last better

username · Post by **username** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 5:46 pm

cheers man, i'll try and change it when i get some money. hopefully my wheel doesnt fall off before then : ).

SUBYDAZZ · Post by **SUBYDAZZ** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 10:24 am

90brumby wrote:...make sure u do both sides theres no point doin 1 n not the other

Well there is if the other doesn't need to be done! Though if you don't know the condition and are still in the mood, it's is a good opportunity.

RE: removing hub nut: have someone stand on brakes (um, I guess if they are working? - leave in gear?), make sure car is on ground. Go for a 3/4"* breaker bar with the 32 or 36mm socket (depends on model). I've found a 1/8"** thick steel pipe big enough to slide over your breaker bar is a good levering device. 2 or 3*** foot length is good.

*19mm in the real world
**3mm in the real world
***60 to 90cm in the real world

SUBYDAZZ · Post by **SUBYDAZZ** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 10:29 am

Oh, if the front bearing / hub goes the brake pads can be spread away from the disc on that side causing intermittent brake issues such as need to use more force than normal, pump brakes and unexpected lack of anchors. Which can suck. Ask Subydreams when she dented a mates Liberty when manoeuvring mine in a car park once.

AlpineRaven · Post by **AlpineRaven** » Fri Nov 09, 2007 9:07 pm

bearings can go like this.... if your car is over 250,000 kms its ideal to replace them anyway if you dont know the history.... Was there any weird noises before it went such as high pitched squeal or whistling?
Cheers
AP