Thread: Transmission bearings?

wear caused by lack of lube/incorrect lube/contaminated lube go hand in hand with overheating account for about 2/3's of bearing failures if not more. This fits hand in hand with incorrect installation of bearings or poor maintenace

Use beyond the design spec is common especially if you crank up the HP in front of the gearbox but that usually has other associated failures with gears as well.

occasionally you will get a bearing with a bad bit of metal in it and thats something you wont find out untill its failed

wrong bearing type or specification is the last in the list.

Thats the simple version, google it for more info.


Any bearing will colapse under the right conditions (or wrong conditions depending on your prefered terminology and all bearings will eventually colapse or fail. That said if all else is in good nick there is no reason why four wheeling should cause premature gearbox bearing failure.

Just a thought, but I'm tipping it was a white metal bearing being in an auto??

what do you mean white metal bearing? it is an auto (hydraulic auto) and im not even sure which bearing it was yet. the downside is that it we had the transmission serviced 12 months ago and they guys said it was in great condition. would that make you think that it was a random failure or caused by a knock 4wding (which i was doing at the time)?

all autos in rovers are hydraulic, and a white metal bearing is a bearing that isnt....

forget about the roller type bearings that your probabley thinking about a white metal bearing is one that typically relies on oil pressure to maintain clearance within itself so there is no metal to metal contact. They are called white metal bearings as they are usually made from a soft metal compound (like tin/zinc) which has a white appearance to it with a hard metal shell behind it. A very similar setup is used in all the bearings on the crank of an engine and the cam which is why lube oil pressure is so important in an engine.

does that help?

ahh i see, okay so are they made totally of tin / zinc? because the mechanic said he found shards of aluminium in the transmission and it was the aluminium that has managed to damage most other components. hence an expencive rebuild is needed. so u think it was just a flaw in the bearing?

depends, aluminium can be used as a white metal bearing metal but there are so many other things in an auto that are made from it as well that it could have been from any of them as well.

If a bit of ally from elsewhere managed to get into the bearing it would root it quick smart and casue it to fail. In this event its a case of chicken and the egg, did the bearing failing cause a problem elsewhere or did something elsewhere cause the bearing to fail? The only way to find out is to pull it down.

^^^what he said, a white metal bearing, is a bearing that isn't a bearing, its more of a shim, its very hrad to determine, what went wrong. unless you give us more detail, there is no bearing, as such, that most people know it, in an auto, but there is lots of bearings in there, Make sense......didn't think so

To much beer, bed now

that was one quality response :P okay so hopfully they do the $3200.00 repair and thats all that needs doing. what an expensive week this turned out to be! ill find out what bearing it is and what they think the cause is and get back to you.

thanks heaps, linc