Technical Did your wheel bearin give up?

Nope, just parked too close to the camp fire.....here's your sign. Lol

 

Had a similar problem about 35yrs ago, a 800km quick trip down the main highway between Sydney & Melbourne in the 'ol brown turd..........just on the outskirts of Melbourne and could see the city silhouette when I noticed the front wheel brake dust cap go spinning into the bush in the road centre trailing smoke..........hhmm...........that didn't look right says he........lol........didn't feel right either when I touched the brake pedal and found the brakes weren't quite right........eventually able to pull over and found the wheel(was running steelies on the front at this time) sitting at a strange angle.........smoking...........twas then I had it impressed upon me that there IS a difference between wheel bearing grease and DISC BRAKE HI TEMP bearing grease..........contacted some mates in Melbourne who came out helped me remove the stub axle and go to a service station workshop who let me grind what was left of the inner & outer bearings from the stub axle, reinstalled everything with the proper hi temp bearing grease and off we went to the rod run.........where many brain cells were destroyed however I still remember my bearing grease lesson from many yrs ago............ain't cars fun?.....lol.........andyd

 

yep....I'm not liking what's available now at the local parts house.....funny - a buddy bought a new trailer just a few years back....he must have thought those bearings were lubed for life....he found out the other day....they're not....

 

Many years ago my sister was driving home at night in her Fiat. She just turned off the highway onto a side road when a front spindle broke off due to a burnt up bearing. Lucky that it happened at 30 mph on the side road vs. 60 on the highway.

 

They can usually be fixed without much trouble. I'd say I've been able to fix 90/100.


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Yep 1964 ford Galaxie 500 XL. got invited to be in a parade and about half way through started hearing the ominous eek eek eek at about 5 mph. Sure enough got it home and the hardest part was cutting off the old race leftovers with a hacksaw making a cut about like the one in yours then a cold chisel to open it up a bit. New parts after inspecting the spindle and fine for years. Note to self always check wheel bearings when getting a new used car.

 

Sadly, have seen that condition or much worse on some of my racer trailers, years ago, my trailer maitainence was poor/non existent, between running my business, my second business (racing hobby) and a family, the trailer never got any love till something fell off or burned up, Luckily no accidents resulted and met some of the greatest people on the road, middle of the night, middle of nowhere, that helped me get back on the road.

 

i have bearing buddies on my trailer , i wonder if you could put them on a car?

 

Very wise. When I was in the .mil a lot of the inspection criteria for aircraft was based flight hours, but also an either/or calendar time based. Wheel bearings were every six (6) months. That may be overkill for a car but it sure puts the point across in my mind. Normally a wheel bearing cleaning, inspection and repack doesn't really take too long and goes a long way towards peace of mind. Bearings that are properly set and lubricated last a LONG time, if not, not. Some of the new ones flooding the market are not of quality materials and so should be avoided if possible.

 

Wouldn't think wheel bearings would be that much a priority on an airplane, last I looked they don't get used that much. Guess they are kinda important a couple times every flight.

 

Hm, I would have thought the disc brake stuff would be of better quality. The last bearing/brake job I did, everything was replaced except for the pedal. Bought a tub of NAPA NGLI #2 multipurpose wheel bearing and chassis grease. It does say on the label that it's also suitable for disc brakes.. Hm....

 

Along with lack of maintenance all together a surprising number of people who work on their own rigs all time don't know how to properly pack a wheel bearing.
I've seen too many guys who think smearing grease on the outside of the rollers and stuffing the dust cap full of grease is packing the bearings and they are the ones who have a lot of bearing failures.

 

This one let go without warning on a busy 2 lane while I was meeting bumper to bumper traffic @ 60+ mph. My wife was pissed at me for weaving on the road in those conditions. After she saw the coal black skid mark from a locked up front wheel, her eyes got big and her face white. After a new upright, spindle, caliper, brake disc and hub, it was all better. (Off topic Triumph Spitfire)