15 replies to this topic

[Phizinza]

My brothers 83 wagon has this noise. It sounds like a wheel bearing. It gets louder when you turn right and goes away when you turn left. And now (for about 300km driving) makes a horrible noise when going straight at 40 to 70 KPH. It started after we went out and played in some deep water and mud. The interesting thing is, my Brat also has this noise now, and I'm worried it's going to get worse the same as my brothers.
From the sound we thought it was a left wheel bearing, seems when you turn right it puts more weight on that bearing. But after my brother washed out the bearing, got it so clean that it felt like new, regreased it, and still the sound was there. Then he replaced the left hub with another off a wreck we have. Still the same noise. I used compressed air to blow out the grease in my left bearing, filled it with good new grease and it's still got that noise. So I was thinking... Could it possibly be something else? I also cleaned out my right wheel bearing and still noise.

Has anyone else had noises/bearing problems after going through mud and water? My brother said his bearings had dirt colored grease, as in, very dirty looking grease in the bearings. Sounds like the seals don't do a very good job.
I'm now looking at the possibility of installing grease nipples into the fron bearings. Which looks very possible.

[mons72]

check the cv's, it maybe there the problem is. i have had that problem my self.

[Phizinza]

Just a coincidence it happened on both cars at the same time, or can water do this to the CV's, or DOJ's?

[[HTi]Dain]

Worn hubs, or worn out steering racks will accelerate bearing wear. something to think about.

[Phizinza]

[quote name=''[HTi]Dain']Worn hubs' date=' or worn out steering racks will accelerate bearing wear. something to think about.[/quote']
I did notice the splines on my left hub were almost gone. But I wouldn't of thought that would make a difference, interesting.

Might be time to get the kit to put the later 5 stud hubs and brakes on..

[Ross]

You often cant tell the condition of a bearing once its out and cleaned. Worn hubs will contribute to this kind of problem - it can reduce the life of your bearings considerably. At one stage i was going through a set of bearings every three months! (although a worn spacer was also a contributing factor there).

[Phizinza]

My left wheel bearing in my Brat would have less then 1000km on it. Could it of gone bad already because of something like this?

[86BRATMAN]

Yeah, it probably could have, if your spline are worn out on the hub it'll give it more room to play around in there. My white brat back in the day had a bearing go out on the d/s twice in about 3k miles. After the second set was installed, about a week later the hub stripped out on my dad.

[mons72]

i have had a bearing on my car that hold for only 300-400 km. only because of bad quality on the bearing. i recomend a total check on bearing, hub and so on. good luck

[psylosyfer]

Just a coincidence it happened on both cars at the same time, or can water do this to the CV's, or DOJ's?

If you have damaged CV boots, Then yes water and mud (dirt) will definately cause failure!
Shouldn't be an issue if the boots are sound, As their designed to keep separate the outside environment, from the environment of clean lubricant neccasary for the joint to function throughout it's expected service life.
Bad boots not only let in contaminates, But also lets out most of the grease,
It's been my experience that the noises, especially turning or under load i.e.(up hill) start almost as soon as the boot fails.
We have a well trusted local shop that claims you can clean repack and replace the boot if you do it before the axle starts to make noise in a straight line. And be OK. I don't know if I believe this theory. But who knows? They obviously wouldn't stand by this if all their customers came back with axles they paid to repair, That still had problems. Seems risky to me though.
If money is an issue, replacing the boot only (hopefully soon enough) may be the only choice.

[Phizinza]

So, I took the old hub off my left front, looked at the splines again and they are totally shot, I'll post picture later sometime. Got a spare from the wreck and drilled it for 6 stud. Problem is I siliconed up some oil fittings for a pressure gauge so I can't test the car until tomorrow. I'll get back on how it goes. Bearings are probably screwed, but who knows. We'll see. And on the brothers wagon, he saw that his right DOJ front boot was completely torn in half. And it looks like most of the grease is gone So we'll fix that and if I remember I'll post back how it goes. I always hate searching through posts and never finding the answers and only getting half the info.

[Phizinza]

Still haven't looked at my Bro's wagon, but on mine...

The bearing noise is still there, only much less with this new hub. We'll see how it goes.

Here some pictures of the hub that came out and the 'new' hub I drilled and put on.



And heres a picture for fun.. It kinda fits... It's a 31" 10.5, and I only have a 2" lift and modded control arms.

[86BRATMAN]

That hub was about to bite the dust:eek:

I forgot how big your tires were,

[Phizinza]

I forgot how big your tires were,

Normal tires on this car are Kumho venture M/T's at 27x8.5... These wre just for fun to see what would need doing to fit 31's, not that I would because I like gearing. In that picture they are rubbing the back, and when turned straight they are touching the front. ahha.
29's would fit no worries I reckon, but not on those rims. The 31's stick out 3" from the gaurds.

[the_postie]

.Good call.Would never thought of looking at the hub.Got a similar thing happening on right hand turns,guess i'll be pulling the hubs.

[Phizinza]

My brother swapped out his right hand knuckle (you know, the part that hods the wheel bearings) and it's all good now. His going to sell the car, so he figured no point in putting new wheel bearings in if old ones work..

His got a new toy now. It's a 84 2.4L diesel 4Runner...

So I'm guessing either my hub screwed my brand new lefthand bearing, so my right side is on the way out.. I think I might wait til it makes more then just a grinding noise, then I can do the wheel wobble test to figure out which one it is.
I know, driving on worn bearings is unsafe, but I reckon my whole car is unsafe right now...