Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2013 15:30:21 -0800
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: cv, wheel bearings, or both?
In-Reply-To: <BAY170-DS1054F84821A3F5713EA29CDB210@phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Hi Ed,
I'd say you're on the right track about it being a wheel bearing when
you say the sound is more pronounced cornering to the left. That
usually indicates wheel brgs on the right side ..as the load is
increased on the right side when swerving or corning ot the left.
And 'droning' fitsfor that.
CV joints can be *just awful* and the van will still go.
They have to be extremely bad before the van just won't move.
The get get very dry and stiff ...or well-worn and sloppy rotationally
speaking ..
eventually they can fail outright , like just bust apart , but you'd
have to drive a few years with really bad CV joint/s for that to happen.
Perhaps what you mean is , if drive is lost to one side, then the van
won't move at all, which is true. it has to get some traction to each
rear wheel to be able to go.
btw ..a Cheater Limited Slip Differential is to put the parking brake on
about half way ..
so both sides have roughly equal drive. Sometimes that can produce
forward progress instead of one wheel spinning away.
Off road dune buggies have seprate parking brake handles to each rear
wheel...
if one is spinning ..you just pull on that handle, transfering drive to
the wheel that has traction but wasn't getting power.
Sounds like you just lost rear traction on that hill. Vanagons , 2WD
ones, have more weight on the front axle than the rear ..they can be
rear-traction challenged at timesfor sure.
It could be very normal for one rear wheel to spin more than the other
..that's normal open differential behavior in the slipperies.
it's real easy to jack up each right corner of the van and wigglethe
wheels, turn them by hand..
check for play and smoothness.
a little up-down play ( make sure parking brake is off ) is normal at
the rear ..
upto 1/8th inch play ..more than that and you know rear whl brgs are
getting due.
on the front, if they are rummbling or droning ...new whl brts would be
in order ..
and same for the rear , if the droning is coming from those brgs.
scott
www.turbovans.com
On 1/3/2013 2:35 PM, Ed Duntz wrote:
> As soon as it's not quite so cold out, I'll jack up the van and do a little more investigating, but until then, I pose this question here. This is about my 1984 Vanagon.
>
> I have two symptoms. One is a noise from the rear which I think might best be described as a "droning." I hear it almost all the time that the vehicle is in motion. I haven't really listened for it at low speeds, but I hear it when I'm going about 30 mph, my average speed on my back roads. It is more prominent when cornering to the left. I hear it whether the van is in gear or not, and whether the clutch is in or out. This is what makes me think it may be a wheel bearing.
>
> My second symptom makes me wonder if I have a cv joint issue. I realize that when a cv joint goes, it usually means that the vehicle won't move, as the transmission can't turn one axle if the other has a bad cv. But I was traveling on snow, and I wonder if that allowed the wheels to turn independently and made a difference. I was traveling up a slight incline on snow and the van went up the hill partially sideways, probably at a 30 degree angle. It seemed like one wheel was turning more than the other, and I had to steer accordingly so that the van went up the hill in my lane, but at an angle. There was not significant difference in the rear tires to make me think that had a large impact.
>
> Any thoughts are appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Ed
>
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