Check your wheel bearings!

I have been hearing the odd scraping/squeeking noises from my front right wheel few weeks ago. It would happen in 10 sec spurts on the odd day then be fine after that. Repeat process every 3rd day roughly, different times etc

Took it to a mechanic on wednesday and he pointed out that the brake pads were past their wear indicator and that was the reason why, so had them replaced. Yesterday again I heard the same noise, this time for 5 secs then goneskis. It irritated me a bit so thought next day off i will take it back.

So this morning on my merry way to work while driving at 80kph I heard the most loudest crunch, scrape, wheel shattering noise. The car shook and I nearly lost steering but managed to pull up the Nav while avoiding hitting a sign and traffic light. Thought well I figured out that sound is a bit more serious than I thought!

Had it towed to the mechanic and they dropped me off to work. After a few conversations he pointed out that the wheel bearing pretty much exploded and had virtually welded itself to the axle. They have tried for 6hrs to remove it but it won't budge! Every possible means and cannot make progress. So I am still without my car and will see them in the morning to check it out.

So if you guys hear a slight noise from the front, check it out! I am glad it didn't happen on the highway!

And in all honestly, The benefits of repacking the bearings every 40000km.

When were these last repacked?

Regards'

Greg

ST-R said:

And in all honestly, The benefits of repacking the bearings every 40000km.

When were these last repacked?

Regards'

Greg

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No idea, I have had the Nav for about 9mths now. Something I will be looking into from now on

that sux, how much have they quoted you to fix it?

You got off it easy! I had a front left come clean off at 110km/h on the freeway! Now I re-grease them after every 4x4 trip involving mud and water and check em every 5000 on road use. Lucky to get away with it that easy!
Hope everyone listens to this warning!!!

scooba_285 said:

that sux, how much have they quoted you to fix it?

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The bearing $90 and couple of hours labour brought it to $345.

They spent a whole day on it, then tried the next morning for a few hours aswell. Using every possible tool to get it off, including angle grinder and still didn't move it. He said he had never seen a bearing that bad.

So only way is if I get a whole new assembly, spindle??? I think he called it so it's a 3 day wait and another $400 for the part. He won't be charging any labour for it. I will upload a pic

The red circle part is a part of the bearing that is "welded" on

This stuff is good to know, I did a rotation on my tyres over the weekend and noticed a fair bit of play in both my front wheels (grabbing top and bottom of tyre while jacked up and giving it a wiggle)

As far as I know, I'm up for new bearings, or at least a repack and some TLC. True?

Nice work.

You did a good job I must say. Haha.

joshman said:

This stuff is good to know, I did a rotation on my tyres over the weekend and noticed a fair bit of play in both my front wheels (grabbing top and bottom of tyre while jacked up and giving it a wiggle)

As far as I know, I'm up for new bearings, or at least a repack and some TLC. True?

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Could be just in need of a tighten Josh, You can inspect them when you repack them to see if they are in need of replacement. That said if you have a bit over 100K on em i'd consider replacing them anyway. cost is around $100 + a little grease. Then your good to go for another 100-150K but lifespan of them really is varied.

Dave said:

Nice work.

You did a good job I must say. Haha.

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Do it once, do it right lol

The Nav has been in the workshop for a week now, should get it back tomorrow.

A combination of the new part arriving, with a missing part, then the wrong bearing sent has made me a pissed off camper.

I am refusing to pay any extra labour on it, at least that is one thing we agree on

heh, after reading this i made sure i checked mine when i gave the car a fresh dose of oil. good thing too! both sides were pretty loose. So off i went and ordered 2 sets of NTN bearings. and change them i did.

preloading is still a bit foreign to me. don't quite know exactly where to set that. (can someone explain some more?)

anyway, upon further inspection, the drivers side was still in good condition, no visible wear marks or discolouration to any of it, i could safely and confidently repack them and throw them into the spares pile.

however.

the passenger side is a different story all together. once it was all apart and cleaned down (brake cleaner is the best!) it looks as though some water had got into the hub through the grease seal at the back. the seal was in a terrible condition. there was some slight rusting on teh end surface of the axle and a bit of surface rust on the bearing casing. the hub and axle were fine. there IS a slight bit of pitting on the rollers and some heat discolouration on the inner bearing. so it's definitely not reusable.

good exercise though. i think i'll buy two new sets and pack them before i head off on my next big adventure.

Good work Joshman!

You should be right for a while now!

Mine was fixed then I heard a different noise again coming from the same wheel so took it back. They said the seal had a bit of dirt/grime on it and clean it. The noise is still there but they say it is nothing to worry about? Should I be worried? haha