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  #1  
Old 06-03-2012, 06:50 AM
Tapani Tapani is offline
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Anyone experience a catastrophic wheel bearing failure?

I know the rear wheel bearing has been endlessly chewed, but has anyone experienced a real failure - wheel seize or a bearing disintegrate?

Mine are droning some what, but since I plan on dropping the whole rear subframe next winter I am pondering if I could live with the noise until then.

Thanks,

Tapani
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  #2  
Old 06-03-2012, 08:10 AM
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Re: Anyone experience a catastrophic wheel bearing failure?

OT has a good story of one. It involves fire, as far as I remember.
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  #3  
Old 06-03-2012, 08:27 AM
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Re: Anyone experience a catastrophic wheel bearing failure?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Crazy_pilot View Post
OT has a good story of one. It involves fire, as far as I remember.
Fire and a 3 wheeled vehicle, i think.
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  #4  
Old 06-03-2012, 08:41 AM
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Re: Anyone experience a catastrophic wheel bearing failure?

Sounds like you should get the spanners out !
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  #5  
Old 06-03-2012, 12:40 PM
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Re: Anyone experience a catastrophic wheel bearing failure?

I think OT's story involved a loose handbrake drum or something.

I've driven over 8000km with a bad rear bearing. Noise is awful but it hasn't gotten any worse lately

I bought hubs and bearings and seals from genuinesubaruparts.com, delivery was swift.
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Old 06-03-2012, 12:51 PM
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Re: Anyone experience a catastrophic wheel bearing failure?

Aha! Found it:


Quote:
Originally Posted by svxfiles View Post
I recently followed a guy to my house with a very bad right rear wheel bearing.
I advised him not to drive it that far, about 100 miles, and he insisted we go all the way to my shop.
WITHOUT STOPPING ONCE!!!
2.6 miles from my home the rr axle boot caught FIRE!!!!!
And fell out from under the car.
The heat was generated by the parking brake shoes rubbing on the inside of the rr brake rotor.
The axle, wheel bearing, rr hub, parking brake cable, ABS sensor, rotor, backing plate, caliper mounting bracket, and more were ruined.
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  #7  
Old 06-03-2012, 01:36 PM
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Re: Anyone experience a catastrophic wheel bearing failure?

That would be considered catastrophic in my books.
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  #8  
Old 06-03-2012, 01:38 PM
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Re: Anyone experience a catastrophic wheel bearing failure?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Crazy_pilot View Post
Aha! Found it:
Excuse my ignorance but was this a consequence of the bearing?
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  #9  
Old 06-03-2012, 02:59 PM
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Re: Anyone experience a catastrophic wheel bearing failure?

yes, yes it is
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  #10  
Old 06-03-2012, 08:47 PM
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Re: Anyone experience a catastrophic wheel bearing failure?

Quote:
Originally Posted by jetboy View Post
Excuse my ignorance but was this a consequence of the bearing?
As the bearing wears it develops play, which in turn allows the parking brake to rub against the rotor. As such it wasn't the bearing itself that blew up, but a secondary failure caused by the wear and misalignment of the bearing.
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  #11  
Old 06-04-2012, 12:33 AM
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Re: Anyone experience a catastrophic wheel bearing failure?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Crazy_pilot View Post
As the bearing wears it develops play, which in turn allows the parking brake to rub against the rotor. As such it wasn't the bearing itself that blew up, but a secondary failure caused by the wear and misalignment of the bearing.
Yes, that was the only logic I could see.

Is there any way I can check this on my car? My appointment with the garage is next monday (after about a month of postponement). I still might want to drive until taht.
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Old 06-04-2012, 05:28 AM
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Re: Anyone experience a catastrophic wheel bearing failure?

Jack up the corner of the car, grab the top and bottom of the tire and shake it up and down. You'll be able to feel any play in the bearing as slop in the wheel. It's hard to say what the limit is before you start getting trouble like that other guy, but if the wheel is moving around I'd limit the length of trips you take.
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  #13  
Old 06-04-2012, 11:33 PM
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Re: Anyone experience a catastrophic wheel bearing failure?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Crazy_pilot View Post
Jack up the corner of the car, grab the top and bottom of the tire and shake it up and down. You'll be able to feel any play in the bearing as slop in the wheel. It's hard to say what the limit is before you start getting trouble like that other guy, but if the wheel is moving around I'd limit the length of trips you take.
Thanks! They're due replacement upcoming monday so I guess I don't have to drive that much until then anyway
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  #14  
Old 06-09-2012, 09:31 AM
Tapani Tapani is offline
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Re: Anyone experience a catastrophic wheel bearing failure?

I'm almost finished.....

I decided to drop the exhaust and the dear diff to get the axles out - much easier than trying to open the rusted up supension bolts.....

I also used an old trick to get the outer races out - I welded a bead with MIG on both rolling surface, all around the circumference. When the liquid solidifies it contracts the race just enough to be able just to tap it out :-). Works like a dream. Those who fear distorting the knuckle do not do this .

The drivers side outer race was toast - a huge area of typical surface fatigue.

The grease in the new OEM bearings looked good, but I did change it to SKF EP stuff.

I used a long hardened threaded bar from a spring (McPherson) tool to pull everything back together and odd and ends laying around in the garage.

Exhaust and brake caliper installation tomorrow - had to call it a night.

Tapani

- edit: Added two photos. Looks like "spalling caused by smearing", i.e. primary cause is lack of lubrication (surface roughness details fuse together - see the roller). The grease was cooked - all black and hard. 20 years and 129kmiles. The nicks in the outer race were caused by me using the part as a tool. Do not look at my welding quality :-). The rolling resistance of the car decreased significantly - let's see if that has any effect on fuel mileage.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg outer race.jpg (67.5 KB, 154 views)
File Type: jpg smearing spalling.jpg (160.7 KB, 159 views)

Last edited by Tapani; 06-10-2012 at 09:56 AM.
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  #15  
Old 06-09-2012, 10:46 PM
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Re: Anyone experience a catastrophic wheel bearing failure?

Just had a total failure of the front right wheel bearing on my..........Toro lawn tractor. Got new bearings but have no way to press them into the hub. Looks like the lawn is going to get higher!
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