Rear wheel bearing life can be all over the place. Typically 150K+ if they get a little care. Fronts (2dw), on the other hand, the outers especially are higher maintenance. They are much smaller for the load, get a lot of heat from the breaks, and tend to get contaminated. Dennis
-----Original Message----- From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of JRodgers Sent: Sunday, January 19, 2014 11:40 AM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Re: Tell me about rear bearings Dennis, what would you say the real life of the rear bearings actually is, in terms of mileage?
John On 1/19/2014 10:30 AM, Dennis Haynes wrote: > If you can affect the rumbling noise by changing direction the problem > is usually the front. The front bearings also fail much more often > than the rears. To test you need to pull the calipers to get the pads off of them. > Even then without load they sound OK but still be problem. The front > bearing really should be inspected and re-lubed every 30K or each brake job. > > The play in the rear is normal. With the van rear very well supported > you can let the engine spin the rear wheels and using a stethoscope > (or big screw driver) on the housing a bad bearing will be evident. > Once they are making noise grease will not fix them. > > Dennis > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On > Behalf Of Jim Felder > Sent: Sunday, January 19, 2014 11:10 AM > To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM > Subject: Tell me about rear bearings > > Of all the Vanagon things I have done, here is one I have not. On the > road, at any speed, if I turn the car to the left so as to put the > force on the right side, I hear a rum-rum-rum sound that matches the > rotational speed of the car. Suspecting races that were not fully > seated on the front wheels (like all low frequency sounds, it's hard > to get a location on this by > listening) after a recent replacement, I jacked up the front and > checked the bearings. They don't move and any noise I hear I believe > is the slight drag of the pads and on the rotors. > > I jacked up the rear and this is what I found: there is not any > noticeable wobble on eaither of the rear wheels, but I can pull them > in and out with a noticeable clunk and about 1/16 of free play, maybe a hair more. > > Does that signal replacement time, or is there more I could be doing > to check the bearings? The car doesn't make any other unusual sounds > form the drive train when going straight down the road. > > Jim > |
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