slownrusty Posted June 28, 2009 Share Posted June 28, 2009 Hi Gang - Ths bearing is *only* 6 months old and I heard it howling come down the Interstate after I took everything apart I discovered this: The race is badly damaged and gouged (very sharp to touch) and caused the entire race to change color from shiny silver to the brown color in the process damaging the needle bearings. The other side was just starting to do this as well but not to the same epic fail. These were on the outer bearings, the inners were perfect. What would cause this? I made sure that the bearings and race were installed and pressed in perfectly true and square and had lots of grease in the hub. I am puzzled especially as the damage is localized to one area. Weird! Any precautions I should take with the new bearing and race? Yasin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careless Posted June 28, 2009 Share Posted June 28, 2009 What brand were these, Yasin? it could be that the manufacturer had a bad batch and that looks like a copper coating that was badly worn to the surface. how long did it sit before you drove it? it looks as though one of the needles was seized. perhaps one of the needles was out of spec and squeeked by QA department? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted June 28, 2009 Share Posted June 28, 2009 I don't think bearing races have any copper in them. They are generally hardened steel. The brown color is probably from heat which can come from improper greasing, poor quality grease, seized roller bearings (as noted above) or a too tight set. The outer bearing takes a lot of the lateral load and if the castle nut is too tight it will cause failure like that shown above. The one bad sport can be from contact on one roller bearing as the car sat after a drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
260DET Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 Other than what has already been mentioned, a bent stub axle. Which could throw the bearing alignment out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slownrusty Posted June 29, 2009 Author Share Posted June 29, 2009 Thanks for the replies guys. John I think you nailed it. There is so much Synthetic bearing grease in there now , its almost oozing out. Its all back together and cross fingers that I do not have to go through this ordeal again. I set the castle at 20ft.lbs which is about right. Raff the bearings are Federal Mogul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 No. You don't set it to any torque setting. Here's the procedure from the FSM: 1. Tighten wheel bearing nut to 22 ft. lbs. 2. Turn wheel hub several rotations in both directions. 3. Again, tighten wheel bearing nut to 22 ft. lbs. 4. Turn wheel bearing nut back 45 to 60 degrees from tight until you line up with one of the cotter pin holes. 5. Install the adjusting cap and a NEW cotter pin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careless Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 Well john brings up a good point. The fact that FM makes good parts, and that it seems like it could be overtightened... and I'm assuming that the same person who installed the really worn one installed the other slightly worn one, it can only mean that the installer perhaps tightened them improperly. What are the chances of two FM wheel bearings being bad in the same batch. And I know you said you installed them, so by no means am I saying it was your fault... I'm just looking at it from John's angle here... it makes the most sense if they are quality bearings like FM. No worries yasin, I think you should follow the guidelines posted just above. It seems like the tightening step is only to seat the bearing in properly and then the slight rebound from the tension on the threads and the nut will allow a backed-off castle nut to still hold tight, but locked with the pin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piston Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 No. You don't set it to any torque setting. Here's the procedure from the FSM: 1. Tighten wheel bearing nut to 22 ft. lbs. 2. Turn wheel hub several rotations in both directions. 3. Again, tighten wheel bearing nut to 22 ft. lbs. 4. Turn wheel bearing nut back 45 to 60 degrees from tight until you line up with one of the cotter pin holes. 5. Install the adjusting cap and a NEW cotter pin. VERY VERY VERY good and useful info alot of us probably didnt know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
260DET Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 With the part time race S30 I used to get front brake pad knock off with the wheel bearings adjusted as per the manual. So, referring to John's procedure, instead of finally backing off the nut I used to take it up snug but with no or very little preload. Never had any wheel bearing problems and knock off was virtually eliminated. Grease used was Slick 50 One Grease. But for a road only car John's procedure is the go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr_hunt Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 VERY VERY VERY good and useful info alot of us probably didnt know. Pretty much the same for all wheel bearings that are secured with a nut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeleriousZ Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 Pretty much the same for all wheel bearings that are secured with a nut. Yep, exact same procedure for my z31 that I did today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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