Thread: why do wheel bearings come loose?

They shouldn't.......I have never had one come loose........buggered if I can work out how the be installed incorrectly. I reckon my defer bearings are at 160k, pretty sure I replace them all when I purchased it, the ones I took out were fine...

yep, and as far as I know these are original and at 330k. I just did the whole rear axle and replaced out of good measure. The rears looked fine and probably good for another 300k. These are the fronts and I had planned on doing an overhaul asap prior to finding these loose fronts today. Pad knock back was the first sign, and a slight clunk or knock mid corner with weight transfer (that could be unrelated) but these lead me to jack my 110 up this arvo and there is significant play in the bearings (definitely not swivel bearings)

I have in the last 6 months change my rims back to stock 6.5 130 rims and constantly rub the radius arms at low speed in car parks etc because my steering stop bolts are broken......

I find that the lock washers just dont hold well enough so after a while let the nuts unwind a little, i just adjusted mine 2 weeks ago after changing wheels and noticed how much play there was.

Same problem here, mine's have to be tightened every 2 or 3 months. Bearings are Timken, grease is Mobil NLGI 02 (non EP), nuts are genuine. I've been thinking in going to the old system as a lot of people have done due to this "inconvinient".

I had the same problem with our daughters 110, I seemed to be forever tightening wheel bearings. The tracks they use are pretty rough though.


I bit the bullet and replaced the lot - no more problems.



Erich

Originally Posted by uninformed

hey all,

If wheel bearings have been installed and adjusted correctly, run in good oil ,changed at proper intervals, running stock rims and tyres, why would they work loose and have play in them?

For what its worth I have found on more than one occasion the bearings start spinning a little bit on the hub, ( the outer one more so) which is where the apparent wear was coming from. You could do the bearings up firm to test but still feel play when you heaved back & forth on the wheel as the bearing centre moved on the hub. Hope Ive explained that clearly.

Any bearing will wear over time and the cumulative wear on the cones and rollers and maybe the end washers if the inner track moves causes them to get loose.

This is the natural state of things but should be quite slow and lasting hundreds of thousands of Ks before replacement is needed. Why would check and repack be in service schedules otherwise?
Of course add a bit of dirt and or water and the scenario changes to much quicker.
Regards Philip A

Originally Posted by Silverone

For what its worth I have found on more than one occasion the bearings start spinning a little bit on the hub, ( the outer one more so) which is where the apparent wear was coming from. You could do the bearings up firm to test but still feel play when you heaved back & forth on the wheel as the bearing centre moved on the hub. Hope Ive explained that clearly.

Pretty sure I know what you mean, but the one and only thing is, I suspect your terminology is incorrect where you referred to a hub.

The hub is the outer part that the wheel bolts to, and revolves with the wheel.

The cup (the correct name for the outer race of taper roller bearings) for both the inner and outer wheel bearings is pressed into the hub.

The stub axle (often called the spindle) is the fixed part that bolts to the axle housing in the case of the rear axle or the swivel housing if a front axle.

The cone (the name for the inner race, rollers and cage assembly of taper roller bearings) for both the inner and outer wheel bearings is an easy push fit into the stub axle.

Normal practice with the design detail for the type of fit for the inner race and outer race of all rolling element bearings is to use a:

Tight fit for mounting the race that rotates in relation to the load. How tight a fit depends upon how heavy the loading. The reason for the tight fit is to prevent the race turning in the housing, or on the spindle.

Push fit for the race that doesn't rotate in relation to the load. In this case the race usually will not turn.

However for very heavy loads or for machinery designed to vibrate, e.g. vibrating screens, both races will have a tight fit. This is necessary to prevent either race turning in/on its seat.

Rolling element bearings need a small amount of internal clearance, otherwise they will overheat and fail. Except for taper roller bearings the internal clearance of most other bearings will be reduced too far if both the inner and outer races are a tight fit. To overcome this, in the special case where both races require a tight fit, the designer must specify special bearings that are made with greater than normal internal clearance.

When a bearing race creeps around in a hub, or on a spindle, it results in fretting corrosion, which has the appearance of red rust.

Considerable wear of the hub, or spindle, from severe rotation of a race that should not rotate relative to the load, indicates a problem, probably caused by incorrect assembly of the bearings (insufficient internal clearance) or lubrication failure. In the case of Land Rover wheel bearings, this could be from too high pre-load or lack of maintenance of greased bearings and seals. Many of us prefer to convert back to oil lubricated wheel bearings because of issues with greased wheel bearings.

Back to the original post, is this problem occurring with the later locking style for the bearing retainer nuts, or with the old style that uses 2 nuts with a tab washer between them?

I've never had a problem with the old style and have used them in place of the new style. I suspect loanrangie's post was referring to the new style.