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Location:
Gympie
Registered:
June 2005
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Re: Wheel Bearings - Failures/upgrades?
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Tue, 02 August 2005 23:24
 
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Had a young guy best described as of the 'bush mechanic' mindset. ie ignore it until it stops you driving, then fix it if you can. This bloke had driven for quite a while in his XD Falcon equivalent V8 Fairlane (Unlicensed, Unregistered, warrants out for his arrest) until the front passenger side wheel partially detatched as he was about to turn a corner. The outer bearing had heated up and collapsed, rooting the stub axle, smashing the brake caliper before bending the steering link and smashing chunks out of the mag wheel and destroying the tyre. Point was that it WAS only the caliper preventing the wheel from leaving the car entirely. The outer bearing having been freed, the inner bearing is then able to pass over it as well. This guy was lucky to have been going slow. Could very easily have been a rollover/wrap around tree/head on with other car.
If you do this yourself, it is generally straight forward, HOWEVER, there are bearings that you tighten til your eyes pop, and there are bearings which are sensitive to the amount of pre-load. In other words, make sure you KNOW, don't guess this one. A bearing requiring pre-load, if over tightened is as bad as a worn out bearing. Too much pressure results in excess heat which destroys the Case Hardening on the rollers, resulting in the failure of the bearing. Most front wheel bearings are tapered, hence use a pre load.
In practice regular servicing of wheel bearings can mean they last for part or even all of the life of the vehicle. Generally that means re greasing them every 20,000 km. Our Rodeo Turbodiesel Ute has 320,000+km and is still on the original front wheel bearings. They are done every 20,000km. Mostly these things fail due to the grease in them becoming hard with age and no longer having contact with the moving parts. Fresh grease in the right place = new lease of life. Having said that, they are carefully inspected for signs that they need replacement, and would be over the shoulder in a heartbeat if they were at all dodgy.
Hope that helps
Cheers Richard
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| | Subject | Poster | Date |
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Wheel Bearings - Failures/upgrades?
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DRFT - 86 | Tue, 02 August 2005 11:10 |
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Re: Wheel Bearings - Failures/upgrades?
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Henn | Tue, 02 August 2005 13:39 |
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Re: Wheel Bearings - Failures/upgrades?
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thechuckster | Tue, 02 August 2005 13:49 |
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Re: Wheel Bearings - Failures/upgrades?
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oldcorollas | Tue, 02 August 2005 13:56 |
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Re: Wheel Bearings - Failures/upgrades?
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shinybluesteel | Tue, 02 August 2005 22:48 |
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Re: Wheel Bearings - Failures/upgrades?
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jzx83 | Tue, 02 August 2005 23:24 |
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Re: Wheel Bearings - Failures/upgrades?
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BabyZ | Thu, 04 August 2005 07:42 |
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Re: Wheel Bearings - Failures/upgrades?
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DRFT - 86 | Wed, 03 August 2005 01:04 |
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Re: Wheel Bearings - Failures/upgrades?
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oldcorollas | Wed, 03 August 2005 01:28 |
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Re: Wheel Bearings - Failures/upgrades?
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DRFT - 86 | Wed, 03 August 2005 05:44 |
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Re: Wheel Bearings - Failures/upgrades?
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loki boyracer | Wed, 03 August 2005 08:40 |
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Re: Wheel Bearings - Failures/upgrades?
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xpimp | Wed, 03 August 2005 09:36 |
