Date:         Fri, 22 Jun 2001 20:04:17 -0700
Reply-To:     Charles McGehee <chasm@ELLTEL.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Charles McGehee <chasm@ELLTEL.NET>
Subject:      Wheel bearing story
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

Listees,

Last May we took a long drive from Washington state to Iowa and
back.  Along about Montana I noticed a hum in the front right front wheel
that sounded like a bearing going out.  In Rapid City I found a nice fellow
who would work on it, fitting me into his busy schedule to accommodate my
travel.  (The VW dealer wouldn't give me the time of day; they would have
taken me three days later.)  Needless to say, I was grateful.  Ssure
enough, the right front bearing was out, which he replaced along with the
left for good measure.   And he didn't charge me an arm and a leg.  I felt
good about it.

On the way back home I had a strange rumble, resembling crossing a cattle
guard, in the front wheel when braking at slow speed.  It happened five of
six times over the course of the next 3,600 miles and didn't affect either
steering or braking.  It was unpredictable and I couldn't make it do
it.  When I got home I had it looked at, and my mechanic found that the
right front outer bearing was too big for the spindle by 3 mm.  The left
was just right.  Both bearing were the same size which meant that the right
front spindle was smaller than the left.  (The right was about 19mm and the
left about 22mm.) I figured that a previous owner had creamed the right
front and replaced it with an earlier year.  In any event, the Rapid City
mechanic didn't notice it and installed the same, larger bearing as the
left side.

I checked the ETKA and found, however, that all model years from 80-92 list
the same bearings, but -- and here's my question -- there is another
bearing mentioned in parentheses as being possible for 80-85.  It gives me
no clue, however, as to why the difference or what vehicles they applied to.

Has anyone out there run into this?  Can anyone give me a clue as to why
the different size spindles on the same car?  And why is the difference
apparently is not found on later years?

Fortunately, no harm was caused by the whole thing other than the extra
money I paid to replace the right outer bearing the second time.  I don't
think the wheel could have fallen off, and braking wasn't affected other
than the noise.  And it caused no damage to the front end, though it might
might have.

My mechanic was upset that the Rapid City mechanic didn't catch
it.  Although the fellow test drove the car, he should have shaken the
wheel while it was on the lift, so my mechanic.

Insights, please?

Charles
'85 Westy