Rear wheel bearings

[smashyvan]

Hi all,
Am now on my 3rd set of rear wheel bearings (1988 1.9DG). First 2 sets were Vetech brand and quickly failed which I later found out were chocolate Chinese copies. The last set were from Brickwerks fitted by a supposedly VW savvy mechanic from a local garage a couple of years say 5K miles or so ago. They started getting noisy in Switzerland during this years European tour and only just got us home with lots of noise & some crunching. On jacking the rear both wheels have play with the worst tilting back and fore 10-15mm plus...
I know Mr Baxters products get good press on here (which was why i purchased them) and am not blaming Brickwerks, so i was wondering if anything else could be to blame (apart from hamfisted fitting) like maybe a worn hub carrier or anything else before I invest in another set from Mr Baxter
I am Gloucester based, any recommendations for alternate garage for set no. 4 as well?
Thanks
Simon

[fairwynds]

were they torqued up to the correct spec when fitted, then checked after couple hundred miles and retorqued? I understand they have to be very tight! Im sure a knowledgeable one will be along shortly.....
cant say Ive ever had any bother with Brickwerks parts, he's rather fussy

[kenkelso]

The problem I found with mine was that the axle was rotating in the inner race of the bearing. The Inner race should be a press fit on the axle and the outer a press fit in the hub. The bearing is designed to rotate on the balls/rollers. If the axle rotates it wears the bore of the inner race and you get play. My actual bearing was fine but the inner race bore was oversize.

Luckily the axle had little wear so did not need replacing.

If this is the case it is essential to use bearing assembly fluid/cement to prevent the inner race rotating on the axle. Unfortunately many mechanics are ignorant of the engineering properties of bearings.

Ken

[smashyvan]

Hmm - interesting, thanks Ken.

So now I need a mechanic in the gloucester area familiar with bearing 'cement' usage - any ideas?
Do you have a trade name for this stuff?

[Oldiebut goodie]

bearing /stud fit

[Cyrus]

How did you know thw bearings were going? did they make a noise?
I have a rumbling sound above 30 mph I`m hoping it`s the front n/s bearing ( as I`ve bought one and they seem straight forward to replace)
Just wondering if mine sounds like a front or rear bearing, also I have had the Rea castle nuts off and don`t think I tightened them to 500 MegaFatBloke Lbs.

[smashyvan]

Oh yes they made a noise alright after 500 or so miles back from switzerland where i first noticed it.....! Speed related whine / moan worse at 50 ish then tails off (prob due to wind noise etc). If you push it round left & right corners it can get worse / better to give you a clue what side is the problem

[Cyrus]

Cheers for the reply, ill change the front 1st and then if the noise is still there onto the rears.

[Cyrus]

BTW, is it possible to change the rear bearings without stripping the brakes and removing the bearing housing?
Could you remove the castle nuts, cv joints/driveshafts and then remove the bearing shaft and knock out the bearings from the housing whilst still attached th the van?

[Titus A Duxass]

Here's a good How-To from Jed, it's valid for 2WD also - http://campervanculture.com/2011/07/jed ... on-syncro/

[Cyrus]

great link, cheers. I`m wondering if you could also change the cv joint at the same time as the outer one is hard to get at and if the allen bolts are rounded it`s a right pig to do.

[Oldiebut goodie]

If you have released and not cut off the heads of the bolts at the gearbox cv joint you can drop the shaft and withdraw it from the hub complete with the cv joint having first undone the shaft nut. (I had to do this when my outer bolts failed and it was held by a mangled bolt - a lot easier to do on the bench).

[dugcati]

make sure your using the right grease in the bearing and also check your tracking isn't miles out - and lastly if your running wide wheels this can also have an effect on bearing life... 500 miles is a very short time for wheel bearing to start acting up, when you pulled them apart second time round what wear/damage was on them? this could help pinpoint why they are dying

[Cyrus]

If you have released and not cut off the heads of the bolts at the gearbox cv joint you can drop the shaft and withdraw it from the hub complete with the cv joint having first undone the shaft nut. (I had to do this when my outer bolts failed and it was held by a mangled bolt - a lot easier to do on the bench).

I never thought of doing it that way.
Great topic, makes me feel less stressed about replacing rear bearings and cvs together.

[smashyvan]

Right - got down to business on the weekend (after 3 months of putting it off..). Got breaker bar & 5 ft scaffold pole ready to remove castle nut but once split pin removed found to be loose... hmmm. So got hub off and drifted bearings out
This is what I found - inner ball bearing fine, outer roller bearing outer shell looked like this -





Hope this comes out ok - first time with pics on the forum....

Those wiggly lines are fractures on the O/D of the bearing outer, yes the outer width varies, - approx 19mm where it is uncracked and expands to 25mm wide on the cracked portion. Essentially the shell looks like it has plastically deformed with the bearing load squeezing the metal sideways out like plasticene...
I am now looking for cracks in the housing itself, but so far seen nothing, rings like a bell when tapped with a hammer. Measured the bearing location dia's & axle dia's with vernier calipers & found nothing untoward

Am at bit of a loss - but one good thing - first time i removed the bearings a few years ago took me all weekend, this time was done in 2 hours..

The van is a Bilbo hi top with standard steelies

Thanks for all the replies
Simon