bad wheel bearing? RESOLVED (1 Viewer)

[hammerheadfistpunch]

Noticed my truck has been wandering a lot more on the freeway recently and acting kind of funny, I suspected a bad ball joint but they are all great. I checked lateral play in the DS front wheel and it was firm, I checked bearing play in the DS wheels and it was great, I did the lateral test with the PS front wheel and it was fine, but when I lifted the wheel off the ground I notices a camber shift. I did the bearing play test and I have slop, lots of it. The bearings were repacked and adjusted in may last year by a local shop that specializes in cruisers. In any case my question is 3 fold:
1. is my bearing shot?
2. if not, what is involved in preload, is it just the hub, and hub seals, or do I have to take out the shaft?
3. if shot, how much of an axle rebuild is a new bearing?

Looking at the FSM is looks like its just:
remove caliper, remove hub and disc, remove and inspect bearing and seal, replace seal and or bearing, reassemble hub, preload and so on. right? am i missing something?

 

[LFD2037]

Personally, I'd just reset pre-load & see how it does.

 

[greentruck]

Yeah, if just slop and no noise, no visual issues like leaking externally, or heat (those $28 infrared temp guns are great for this), retighten to specs and be watchful. If it's bad, it will let you know and act unhappy.

You can R&R bearings as part of the axle service. No big deal other than the mess that entails. Or you can just R&R the bearings and don't go any deeper -- although you're pretty "in" by then anyway.

 

[Chester]

OK, sounds like trunions, maybe

 

[hammerheadfistpunch]

here is a video with some sound.

 

[LFD2037]

I'd say wheel bearing is just loose. Did it have a screach/creak/grind/grrrrr/moan sound when driving? If not, I'd just tighten to spec and mind it.

 

[hammerheadfistpunch]

I'd say wheel bearing is just loose. Did it have a screach/creak/grind/grrrrr/moan sound when driving? If not, I'd just tighten to spec and mind it.

There is a noise, that I've been trying to track down since my axle was rebuilt, but I chalked it up to new gears. I talked to Kurt and he rode along and suggested my rear drive-line slip joint was going bad...and it is...and that was where the noise is coming from. its a whrring noise, which to mean sounds like a bearing. Im having the rear drive shaft rebuilt soon, but the wheel definitely needs some attention. Getting new seals and the big tool tonight and hopefully I have some time to mess with it this weekend.

 

[landcrshr]

The bearings were repacked and adjusted in may last year by a local shop...

I had a shop do this for me shortly after I bought my Cruiser. I recently checked on this and found the adjuster nut was loose because the lock washer had never been folded over the nuts. TRUST NO ONE!

 

[Qball]

^^^^^that!

Most likely just loose, go pack your bearing yourself and do it right. Also look into getting trail-gear's preload and lock ring setup. After the bearings are packed then spin the hub/rotor and feel for smoothness, if it's smooth then the bearings are good, if it feels crunchy then replace the bearing.

If you are worried about trunion bearings then just lift the front and take off both wheels, turn(left and right) rotor/hub and feel for play and smoothness.

 

[hammerheadfistpunch]

^^^^^that!

Most likely just loose, go pack your bearing yourself and do it right. Also look into getting trail-gear's preload and lock ring setup. After the bearings are packed then spin the hub/rotor and feel for smoothness, if it's smooth then the bearings are good, if it feels crunchy then replace the bearing.

If you are worried about trunion bearings then just lift the front and take off both wheels, turn(left and right) rotor/hub and feel for play and smoothness.

Were it yours, would you go inner and outer bearings full repack, or just re-preload the outer bearing? I don't want to spend a fortune on seals I don't need.

 

[Qball]

If it was mine I would just repack the outer, IF the outer is dry as bone then I would repack the inner. Most likely it is just loose, I would 'pack' a bunch of grease over/around the outer and inner bearings. Torque it down to 20lbs and make sure the star lock ring tabs are securely in place, a small flat tip and a hammer would do the trick. Try to get 2 tabes in on the inner nut and one on the outer lock nut.

 

[greentruck]

I had a shop do this for me shortly after I bought my Cruiser. I recently checked on this and found the adjuster nut was loose because the lock washer had never been folded over the nuts. TRUST NO ONE!

Yeah, I had the local stealership do the exact same thing. Then act as if it failed because it was so worn, etc, even though it apparently was plenty fine when they *supposedly* serviced it correctly just 4,000 miles before.

LandCruiser bearings don't just suddenly reach the end of their lives like that. If it was indeed sloppy enough to fail in 4,000 miles, it had to have been pretty sloppy when serviced, IF this was a wear problem. Most of those miles were from one long winter trip to Canada -- good thing it was cold, I suspect. I also suspected a "don't know what he's doing" theory about the tech to the service writer when I brought it back a few weeks later when it started squalling like a burnt baby. It seems that basic service like this is now alien to the average tech.

And it wasn't really the money. never got to that point. It was the insistence that their tech couldn't possibly have done anything wrong. Why do I say that?

Used to be involved in maintaining ICC required records for a heavy duty truck fleet. We didn't lose many in the years I worked there, but we did lose several. Every time, it was my job to pull the paper maintenance record file, double check it had all been accounted for per the service schedule, summarize the material for the boss, and leave him with what to do about it. Every time, loss of a wheel involved service less than 5,000 miles before. Now, there were bearings always available (because I was also partially responsible for making sure they got there) and our techs were under relatively relaxed time pressures compared to a dealership garage. The odds of failure in exactly that same scenario three times (that I recall, there may have been more) from the simple odds of ordinary wear and tear catching up approach infinitesimal. I don't recall exactly who was involved other than at least one old timer and one new guy. It can happen to anyone. And you really hope it doesn't kill anyone when the semi driver sees he's being passed by a set of his own duals. We were lucky.

I don't trust my luck with the 80 to those folks any more. Nothing personal. Just the way it is. I went back to doing 'em myself, like I used to do on my old 55.

 

[Tools R Us]

If the grease is good, recently done, reset preload and go. I would pull the drive plate and inspect, if it looks good, torque the inner nut to ~25ft/lb, reassemble and go. In our experience, most shops set the preload way too light, increasing the chance of them becoming loose.

 

[Tapage]

Use new start lock washers ..

or something like this ..

https://www.trail-gear.com/TG/Chromoly_Spindle_Nut_Kit__Toyota_/i_0_0_/_300519-KIT.aspx#.VbFqvKS6c1I

Dunno if this works for 80 spindle or exist a 80 series spindle version ..

 

[hammerheadfistpunch]

I pulled off the hub and put in new bearings, the outer bearing race was worn and bad, the inner bearing looked fine, but I replaced it. Man, what a pain to get the hub back on, you have to get it JUST right or the bearing will hit at an angle and refuse to go on the shaft. The lockring was in tact so I suspect that the bearing was never properly preloaded when it was serviced last. I will be doing the other side soon because its due anyway. Not a bad job at all really.

Thanks to Bryce at cruiser outfitters for the parts and advice.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Thanks to Bryce at cruiser outfitters for the parts and advice.

Thank you!

 

[NLXTACY]

Thanks for changing the title to "Solved"

 

[Tanner H]

Just wanted to add my 2 cents for future members that are having this issue:

I had a loose front driver's wheel. read all the related threads (so thankful for this site) and took the advice of some people on here and decided to just check the nuts before I did anything else.

Sure enough, the nut that is supposed to be 43lb was very loose (I put my socket on it and loosened it with my hand. I torqued down both nuts and zero play now.