Date: Wed, 3 Jun 2015 19:41:03 -0700
Reply-To: Phil Zimmerman <philzimm1@SHAW.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Phil Zimmerman <philzimm1@SHAW.CA>
Subject: Re: Rear axle torque specs?
In-Reply-To: <66B524E9-D351-4C06-A906-4016134B53D9@comcast.net>
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Bored or otherwise Stuart, let us keep this thread alive until Friday where we can get wild and crazy..)
Can we (collective) keep you awake until then?
In the meantime, here is what one of our fav gurus Dennis Haynes, has to say about those pesky rear wheel bearings.
With permission from Dennis .. copied from the Samba list:
D.H. wrote:
I am not really sure of the single question here. Here are some thoughts and feel free to share them.
The VW or Vanagon rear wheel bearing set up is quite robust and tolerant of
abuse. Typical life is somewhere between 120K to 160K. Only poor quality
parts and stupid stuff creates problems. I have never seen a housing so worn
that it could not be reused.
The bearings consist of an inner bearing which is basically a motor bearing
and the outer straight roller bearing. The ball bearing provides some weight
support and carries all the thrust loading. As a ball bearing it will have
some clearance and it can tolerate some angular error. The outer bearing
carries most of the vehicle weight and does not provide any sideways
(thrust) support at all.
Sometimes the ball bearing may appear loose the housing. The main issue here
is that the bearing does not spin in the housing. This really is not likely
under load but when a new bearing is loose some Loctite bearing retaining
compound such as the RC680 will take care of that concern.
More critical is that the bearing is a proper fit on the shaft. Again not an
issue unless really bad such as loose and rocking. Once the assembly is
tightened up the bearing will be tight with the shaft shoulder and the
spacer sleeve.
When pressing the shaft into the bearing it is important that you actually
support the bearing inner race and not just push or hammer the shaft into
the bearing with only the outer race supported by the housing. Doing this
can cause damage to the races and balls often known as "Brinneling".
<http://www.google.com/search?q=brinelling&hl=en&rlz=1T4ADBF_enUS307US308&prm
d=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=phLQT82QHKLx0gHJsYjZDQ&sqi=2&ved=
0CGYQsAQ&biw=1571&bih=852>
The bearings can be damaged when a hammer is used to free up stuck drums.
As for lubrication it is an extremely bad idea to add a grease fitting. What
goes in will want to come out and onto the brake shoes it will go. Too much
grease can also cause excessive churning and heat and make the lubricant
fail. Grease does not lubricate the bearings. The oil suspended in it does
the job. I too have the temptation that more is better. My method of adding
or changing the rear wheel bearing grease is as follows.
Remove the wheel flange and outer seal. Use a thin grease needle and place
it through the rollers of the outer bearing. Pump in grease until grease
comes out the other rollers. Pump out as much old grease as possible. Then
remove the needle and wipe off all the grease outside the bearing. Run the
engine in gear to let the shaft spin and push some of the excess grease out.
Afterwards wipe out that housing again. You want space for more grease to
get out after it is all back together. Install the seal with just a bit of
grease on the lip. Put it all back together being sure to properly torque
that big nut.
-- Dennis Haynes
------------------------------------
Phil z
on his rock off the West Coast