[Vwdiesel] Golf eating rear wheel bearings.

[James Hansen]

If you are replacing both halves of the bearings, as in cup and cone, not
just the bit with the rolling elements on, there has to be an alignment
problem, as in the two bearings are not parallel to one another when
installed.  If you installed new cups (races) into the brake drum, then
ensure that you got them fully seated, fully bottomed to the machined
shoulder.  If there is alignment issues, it will definitely eat the rolling
elements, and lead to bearing failure.
The axle could be bent, but not likely, unless you slid sideways into
something solid at some point, or were hit on that wheel. Only way to check
the axle is to unbolt it(no big deal) and spin it on a lathe.  Rolling the
wheel over, you *might* feel intermittent drag, but probably nothing too
discernable, because the lack of parallelism between the two bearings would
be fairly constant, thus fairly continuous drag, but overpressure on only a
few rolling elements, as they bear the bulk of the load, and fail early.
-James

> -----Original Message-----
> From: vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com [mailto:vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com]On
> Behalf Of George Harris
> Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2004 12:48 PM
> To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com; LBaird119 at aol.com
> Subject: [Vwdiesel] Golf eating rear wheel bearings.
>
>
> This is so simple I'm embarrassed to ask. I have replaced the left rear
> wheel bearings on a Golf series 3 twice now within six months and they
> have self destructed again.
>
> When I do a bearing job I clean the axle, blow all the brake dust away
> with compressed air, clean the new bearing with parts cleaner and
> compressed air, then pack the new bearing with grease using a bearing
> packer. I install the bearing, tightening until it gets harder to rotate
> the wheel, then back off a bit. The bearing on the right side is still
> fine from it's first replacement when I did them both at the same time.
>
> Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong? Is it possible that something
> is causing the bearing to go? Is it possible the axle is bent and it's
> causing the bearing to destruct prematurely?
>
> Cheers
> George
>
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