n/s wheel bearing gone again

hello Gary,

i dont know about others here, but 14k sounds a good amount to me. i know your car is an Brit open classic, probably on 12 inch wheels, but my sportspack on 13s eats bearings every 6k because of the weight of wheels, and offset (and how i drive it). what i would say is every few months jack each wheel and check for play in bearings and ball joints. while you are there you should shoot some lithium grease into the nipples (3 on each front and 1 on each back) - hope you have been doing the greasing as this prolongs life of ball joints and thus stops premature tyre wear which is a hell of a lot more expensive!

HTH RS

If you drive REALLY hard then 14k may not be too unreasonable.

One thing a lot of people forget is to check the adjustment on the bearings after the first few hundred miles - it's not uncommon for new bearings to bed in and/or pull in the last bit after a bit of use. This will cause a little bit of play that will drastically reduce the bearing life.

I also like to pack a heap of grease into the new bearings before I fit them. Quite simple (and enjoyable if you liked playing in mud when you were a kid). Place a good dollip of grease in the palm of one hand and rub the bearing through it so that the grease pushes into the housing. Can be very supprising how much less grease you have in your hand after a few minutes. I never trust the small amount that is in the bearings when you get them - I grew up on a farm where the moto was if the machinery part didn't move then paint it, otherwise if it moved cover it with grease - a lot expensive machinery would sit idle for most of the year to be dragged out and used for 16hours a day for a week or so in hot dusty conditions - and if it broke down you were in deep do do.

Hi GPT Sounds like you could have a worn hub problem, if the hub has worn unevenly, and you push it in to a new bearing, this will accelerate the life of the bearing, Fitzy

As Fitzy says, the hub has probably worn out too Minispares sell the swivel hubs for round abouts the £45 mark IIRC. Last time mine went I managed under 2000 miles before the new bearing was shot. They reckon on around 2 or 3 bearing replacements and you'll need to replace the hub too.

HTH Jim