Wheel bearing again !!

[Mike Arman]

>From: "Greville Bowles" <zaphod at cansafe.com>
>Subject: Wheel bearing again !!
>
>After only 15 months on the car (18,000 km) my rear wheel bearing have gone
>again. This can't be normal wear, can it? Perhaps the bearing I used were of
>poor quality. They were not expensive, as I recall.
>What other factors should I look at when I replace them this time?


Yes, something is very wrong here - these bearings almost never give trouble.

Please describe the failure mode - Rust? Spalling? Excess heat (bearings 
turned blue)? Noise? Looseness or play? Excessive tire wear?

All the seals in place and correct? Do they actually touch the surfaces 
they are supposed to? If the seal is too large, water will get in and ruin 
the bearings, if it is too small, it will burn.

Correct grease, correct amount, did you get it INSIDE the bearing, not just 
on the surface? (a messy, tedious job, but necessary).

Correct pre-load on the bearings?

Any spacers missing or in the wrong place?

Bearings are not terribly expensive, so price isn't a good guide - unless 
they came from Wal-mart or something - then the quality of the bearing 
itself might be suspect.

Why did the first set of bearings go bad? Perhaps someone installed the 
wrong bearings before you got the car, and you replaced them by looking at 
the part number on the bearing and not double checking it in the book? 
(This is a stretch, but possible - and 99.999999% of the time, the part 
you'll find here is correct, but in this case, we want to check everything!)


Best Regards,
Mike Arman