wheel bearing help (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Nov 9, 2004
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Location
Kent England
I have had a woobly steering on my LC for a while now and it seemed to be getting worse, veering on undulations in the road, I have just checked my wheel bearing and have noticed that the outer bearing (right hand side)has rubbed into the metal washer and worn a groove into it, thats why the bearing has to much play now, is this a common fault? and what might be the cause for this wear, I don't have a replacement washer and it takes two days to order these parts in the UK so will have to clean it up and put it back for now, its as if the inner of the bearing is rotating and causing the wear on the washer, hope you can help guys....regards Mick.
 
Pull the hub apart and inspect the bearings. If they don't show signs of wear (unfortunately they probably do) you could probably turn the washer around, re-pack the bearings and set the pre-load to the proper torque (~6-12 ft/lbs- dunno the metric equivalent). The pre-load probably wasn't set right last time the bearings were done, or the bearings are trashed, and the inner race is spinning on the spindle.

If the bearings are trashed, check the spindle for wear. If it's OK, replace the bearings.

-Spike
 
Wheel bearing do loosen up over time. Even with proper setting at a service. The book suggests to have the wheel bearing repacked every 30k miles, with checking then every 15k miles. A check can mean as simple as grabing the top of the tire and shaking the tire back and forth to see if you have any movement. If so then you need a minor adjustment. I have also noticed with my trucks over the years the more agressive the tire and bigger it is the more stress on the bearing allowing it to loosen up quicker. The washer is not a hardened part as the rear axle washer, so it will also wear quicker and will take less abuse on it before it loosen up.
Then you also have poor maintance in the past that has allowed the bearing inner race to spin on the spindle, in theory you should replace the spindle and bearing to then have the slight press fit it should have to not allow the race to spin. But in pratice most shops will not tell the customer he needs a new spindle at the tune of 225 dollars. So if you have a ridge where the race has spun you cando one of two things to help the race maintain it slight press fit. first is to replace it, second it what I call staking the spindle, you can use a pin punch that is sharpe and then with a hammer put about 6 equal spaced dimples (around the spindle)on the spindle to raise the metal in the dimpled area a little. this usually will be enough to hold the race so it will not furter tear up the race if you do not set the bearing right. This will also mess up your setting the bearing if you are not praticed with this method of correcting the spindle slop. I would venture to guess most 80 series have spindle wear, and most owners do not look at the spindle that close or check the looseness as toyota specs out. For a couple of days it would be OK to put the old washer back on with the smooth side next to the bearing and set your bearing and order the parts you need. later robbie
 
I looked at the front bearing today while I was setting the clearance, the bearing rollers were fine and also the outer was fine, I didn't bother looking at the inner bearing as I thought I would buy new bearings and do a complete job, in a week or so.
What I did notice on reasemble, was when you tightened up the bearing nut to 54lbs ft to take up the slack in the bearings, then back off the nut and tighten to 5lbs ft the rotor would turn nicely by hand, but as soon as I tightened up the lock nut onto it, it would be quite hard to turn rotor, so had to keep backing off the front lock nut and loosening off the bearing nut, then retightening lock nut until there was no play and I could still turn rotor easily, when I was tightening up the lock nut, I was also keeping an eye on the bearing nut to make sure it was not moving round (clockwise) so I am unsure as to why I was having all this hassle, I did turn the bearing washer round and also had a new tab washer in between the lock nuts.
The steering does now feel a lot better, but I will order a complete new set of bearings for both sides and change them, do you think I should use Toyota supplied bearings and seals, or do you think I can use after market items.....regards Mick.
 
Cheers Robbie for your reply, yes your right about doing the centre pop trick, we do that at work quite often to get by on a quick fix, I work as a shift maintenance engineer in a large papermill so come across this quite often with worn shafts and have to centre pop the shaft to take up the clearance.
I will buy new bearings and do a complete bearing change in the very near future, trouble is the weather is getting cold and wet here in the UK and will have all the parts ready for when there is a fine day to do it.
 
I'm having trouble visualizing how the race spins on the spindle, since they are seating in the hub and spaced away from the spindle by the bearing??
 
The inner of the bearing is on the spindle, so if there is a slight wear in the inner of the bearing or wear on the spindle, the inner of the bearing can allow to turn, so will wear the groove in the washer, hard to explain in writing
 
TIghten the hub nut to 5 lbs? I'm not sure you're doing that right, have you read some of the threads on setting the pre-load? The procedure requires the use of a spring scale to measure the amount of force it takes to move the hub via the lug bolts. It is normal for the bearings to tighten up when the locknut is tightened, that's why a spring scale is necessary to measure just how much they tighten. If the locknut causes the preload to increase beyond spec, both nuts must be loosened, re-set and re-tightened until proper pre-load is achieved. If you're doing it right I apologise, but your statement about tightening the hub nut to 5 ft/lbs sounds wrong. There is no torque spec per se for that nut. The locknut should be tightened to (I believe) 47 ft/lbs. https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=55076&highlight=wheel+bearing+preload for more info.

-Spike
 
It was a thread on this site that I tried to follow, it said to tighten to 43 ft lbs turn the hub to settle, loosen to hand tight and retighten to 4-6 ft lbs chech that there is no looseness in bearing, and then it says use a fish scale to test preload, I am not a fisherman so could not do that, funny thing is, I am not that happy about using the fish scale idea, cos it would seem a bit hit and miss, cos it all depends on the grease used (viscosity) temperature and the actual amount of grease used in the bearing, then it says lock the lock nut up to 47 ft lbs and check to see if there is any looseness.
I just kept adusting front and lock nut until there was no looseness and not to much astiction when turning hub, I just could not think of any other way of doing it.
 
Sounds like you've got the general idea. The fish (spring) scale is just a more precise way to 'feel' how tight the bearings are. Yes, different grease (although there's a recommended grease type) and amounts will vary the resistance somewhat, but you have to start somewhere. The spring scale is available from Marlin here: http://www.marlincrawler.com/axleparts.html at the bottom of the page for 10 bucks. I happened to get the exact same scale at a place called Harbor Freight (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=37864) for like $3 on sale. It's a good tool to have, you need it for doing the steering knuckle bearings, rear wheel bearings, etc.

-Spike
 
Cheers spike for the info, much appreciated, I will try and get one of the fish scales, wish I had thought about it when I was in USA a couple of weeks ago, bound to be half the price is the USA I must admit my steering feels a lot better now, wished I had done a complete bearing change when I changed the rotors, which was only about 5 months ago, and on the subject, it really does feel like the rotors have warped, I could tell when I was turning the rotor yesterday, it had a rub/tight spot on each revolution, what would cause them to warp again?
 
would really heavey braking cause it? I knew I should have fitted Toyota disc pads, after market ones are s***e
 
snowwolf said:
would really heavey braking cause it? I knew I should have fitted Toyota disc pads, after market ones are s***e


something like coming down a hill side dragging on them for a while woould do it. Also if they were hot and you drove through a large puddle of cold water they might warp. My rears warped right after a mud puddle that was a meter deep.
 

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