Re: How long should wheel bearings last ? (was Funny)

>> >> >>>> 5th gear - driver in front braking imperceptibly whilst you lift off >>>> and decelerate faster than them. >>>> >>>> Why oh why oh why ? >>>> >>>> Daytona >>> >>>Driver ahead went into neutral gear and had no engine inertia to slow them >>>down, had foot on brake pedal so lights came on but applied no force >>>through >>>brake mechanism, just to let you know they *might* brake. >> >> It was down a slight incline so that may well have been it. >> >>>Or you have seriously bad lubrication problems, possibly in your >>>bearings??? >> >> Funny you should say that - it's just been serviced, but I seem to get >> though bearings every 11,000 miles which I've always thought as >> frequent. >> > > >Do you fit 'em yourself?

No I don't. I wouldn't mind having a go but I never seem to have the right tools even for simple jobs !

I've only ever done it once, but I was told I should split the race and pack >them with grease. > >And when they say pack them, they mean make every available surface grease >coated, and when the balls go in, to make all gaps full, packed with grease, >loads of it. Really mucky job it is, greatt!!!

Strange, I would imagine that most of the grease is squeezed out within a few revolutions.

Crossposted to uk.rec.cars.maintenance & rec.autos.makers.vw.watercooled as it's a '89 VW Golf -

How long are bearings meant to last ? Is ~11,000 miles reasonable ?

Daytona

Reply to
Daytona
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I've never had to change one once. You should be adding a 0 to that mileage.

Reply to
adder1969

No.

Steve

Reply to
shazzbat

I had a front one go on the 307 at 90k, which I thought was a bit premature.

Reply to
Brian

Out of half a dozen vehicles of all kinds, I've had one front and one rear bearing fail, at around 80K. I've always replaced my own bearings, and they've never failed again in 50-100K miles ... vehicles sold or rusted out first. If the grease seals are intact, and the hub is completely cleaned of old grease and repacked properly ... and always replace both the inner & outer bearings ... they should last a very long time. Either water is getting past the seal, or the hub wasn't cleaned properly, or a damaged companion bearing was left in place, or something very odd is going on (tilted race pocket or something wierd).

Billy H is right, you fill every void in the bearing cone with grease before putting it into place, and fill most of the inter-bearing space in the hub ... you want grease totally surrounding the bearing so that grease gets "sucked" back into the bearing behind the rollers/balls after being squeezed out in rotation. Not hard, but yeah very messy LOL.

Reply to
backwoods

In 30 years of car ownership, I've only ever had to replace one wheel bearing, and believe me I've owned some right leggy sheds. 11,000 miles is hopeless - there's something else wrong.

Reply to
Huge

I had cause to change a front wheelbearing that gave up the ghost at 86K the wheel was hit by a car turning into me at around 75k so I assumed it was upset by that.

The replacement bearing failed at around 100k and the garage replaced it free as they thought that it must have either have been faulty or something had gone awry with the fitting. Sure enough the bearing that was refitted is still going strong now 50k later.

**touches wood*

Tom

Reply to
Tom Burton

The ones on our '87 Westie are just fine after 325,000 miles +/-. The engine has been changed, and the transmission. But the bearings are original. They were re-packed in September and looked (and worked) fine.

Having written this, I will pay extra-special attention to them... retribution for bragging and all that.

Peter Wieck Wyncote, PA

Reply to
pfjw

Reply to
none2u

They would, what with all our roundabouts and hence additional load they're subjected to.

Mathew

Reply to
Mathew Newton

60-100,000 would seem reasonable. Depends on whether they are adjustable or not, and if they are, if they are kept adjusted.

Also, if they were slapped in with a hammer instead of a press and not straight they wear faster.

Reply to
Elder

I must have had the worlds fastest bearing wear rate. In the early eighties I took my Alfa 2000GTV for an MOT. "Come back in half an hour" he said, on return I was presented with a fail notice and advised that both sides front wheel bearings were excessivly worn, replacement costs and fitting would be 75 pounds plus vat (long time ago, was substantial money then) and car would be ready tomorrow.

I produced the dated receipt from the glove box for the wheel bearings I had bought and fitted that morning immediatley prior to the test, and was told "Take your car away and don't come back". Luckily I hadn't paid for the MOT. the 'worn' wheel bearings lasted the next two MOT's and were still going when I sold the car.

Reply to
NM

This is begining to sound like the old tale about the fellow who had a broom that belonged to his grandfather, which had had 5 new heads and 6 new handles!

Alan

Reply to
Alan Holmes

Hey!!

The innards & sheet-metal are all-original >;-b Even works! Each year that it passes Pennsylvania's safety & emissions inspections (and we have a tough mechanic for that), I am pleased.

Now, some of my vintage electronics are very much like that broom... about the only original parts inside are the heat-sinks, transformer(s) and mechanical pieces... and anyone who has ever kept Dynaco stuff will understand that situation.

Use it up, Wear it out, Make do, Or do without.

Peter Wieck Wyncote, PA

Reply to
pfjw

Wheel bearing shuold last at least 70k miles. Virtually all modern car wheel bearings are sealed for life. Ive just not long changed mine on my Proton Persona at 114k miles.

McK.

Reply to
me

I greased my front wheel bearing in my Toyota pickup 220,000 miles ago. that would be about 18 years ago. The bearings have about 250,000 miles on them. My VWs have had font bearing last over 200,000 miles. Some of the VWs I have worked on have had over 200,000 miles on the rear bearings. Grease may get squeezed out a bit but if properly packed the grease oozes or wicks to where it needs to be. My Toyota specifically lists how much grease you are to pack in to the hub to allow for proper wicking.

Reply to
Jim Behning

Thanks for the replies !

Daytona

Reply to
Daytona

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Daytona saying something like:

Bollocks. Overpacking with grease is as bad as under-greasing.

And you'd be right. The optimum amount of grease is 'just enough'. The excess grease is squeezed out and remains on the periphery of the bearings until bearing temps rise and cause it to melt and flow into the bearings.

On an 89 Golf, depends on the habitual use and roads it's on, but 11,000 miles is far too little for decent bearings.

Reply to
Grimly Curmudgeon

How? I ask because I don't know, and I was under the impression my filling hands with grease and stuffing the races, grease into every available gap etc. was the way to do it. After that putting grease into the hub, a good smearing.

Just enough? like so the race is coated all over but not 'heavy'?

11,000 is atrocious isn't it?

Ten times that I would expect from any car. But that could be wishful thinking and lack of experience.

Reply to
Billy H
[...]

If you fill the bearing and its sealed housing completely, where is the grease that has to be moved to allow rotation going to go?

An over-packed bearing will fail in one of two ways. Either pressure caused by the churning effect will cause the seal system to fail resulting ultimately in severe *under* lubrication, or the churning will cause temperature degradation of the grease.

I've seen both happen many times in industrial situations.

The general rule of thumb is to fill the bearing, but only pack the sealed area of the housing to 50% full.

Perhaps it was over-packed :-)

I've certainly ran cars for 100K and never replaced a wheel bearing. OTOH I've had one go noisy at half that milage. A failure at 11K means something was wrong for sure!

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

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