Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2011 18:40:04 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Rear Wheel bearing...diagnostic question..
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with it running in gear, with that RR in the air ..
get a nice long 'listening rod'.
I like a 2 1/2 foot piece of hardwood..
but ..even a good long screw driver will work.
put the end against the bearing housing..
the other against you ear ( like on that flap there ) ..
and listen for rumbly sounds.
compare sides.
and ..
they sedom fail really ..
they just get older and looser and more worn, mainly the outer rear wheel
brg.
'eventually' ..it's just time to do them.
as for play at the wheel..
with wheel/tire on ..
and tilted it top to bottom ..
a 'sold 1/8th inch' would be pushing the uacceptible level of wear and
loosenss. . like 'that's a lot. '
1/16th of an inch ..
that's ok.
they start at zero play..
there is no adjustment similar or even related to how the front wheel brg
play is adjusted ..
other than the big nut being properly tight back there.
there is no adjustment.
they can be a little intense to do.
a press is highly desirable for the job.
scott
----- Original Message -----
From: "Don Hanson" <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, July 15, 2011 1:05 PM
Subject: Rear Wheel bearing...diagnostic question..
> 84 non westie with westie inside and inlne 4 VW motor.
>
> I recently installed new CVs on my right side, did the left last year. I
> had a rumbling noise, when the van was run in gear with the right rear
> wheel
> raised. Hence, the CV joint replacement was done, and that quieted things
> down back there *almost* completely...at least that gnarly rumbling noise
> is
> not there any more. But......
>
> There now seems to be a 'buzzy' feeling from the rear when driving down
> the road..This may have been there before and masked by the bad CV sounds,
> I
> am not really sure. The buzzy feeling is almost like the road surface has
> new chip-n-seal...or perhaps like I'm driving on very subtile rumble
> strip....very very subtile...it is similar to the sound of driving on a
> steel bridge deck, too...but again...not so loud or pronounced...No real
> noticeable difference in the sound if I kick the van into neutral and
> coast...still sort of a buzz, whirr, whatever from I am almost sure the
> rear....
>
> So I again did the jack up one wheel at a time testing proceedure...Left
> wheel is very quiet and smooth when run in all gears (when up in the air.)
> I put the left wheel down and lifted the right one...Noisy. Not nearly
> as
> noisy as before the CVs were replaced...but noticeably noisy compared to
> the
> other wheel. I checked and re-torqued all the CV bolts...all were tight.
> I
> did the normal wheel bearing test of trying to tilt the wheel, top and
> bottom, side to side. It has play... I am not sure how to quantify the
> play it has...but if it were a front wheel....I might just tighten it up
> maybe one or two splines on the castle nut and let it be. I'm wondering
> how
> much play is acceptable at the rear..never done a rear on a Van. Also,
> the
> play that is there....it almost seems more in/out on the whole wheel
> rather
> than the wheel is tilting...I could be imagining that...
>
> I ordered some new bearings and seals...I'll probably go ahead and
> install
> them, but am I on the right track here, or am I just sort of wasteing my
> time when I should look elsewhere for that growly buzzy noise? Anyone
> want
> to advise here?
>
> Don Hanson
