Rear wheel bearing

[rendyx]

Well, for the past month or so, I thought the RR brake was dragging, and the rubber hose had collapsed. It would let up once in a while, I thought...

Until today when it was doing it and grease started pouring from the center of the wheel. And smoke too. I drove about a mile home, and took it apart, and the bearing/hub area was oozing grease. I assume my wheel bearing has just collapsed.

Can anyone point me in the right direction as to what to do about this? I've only found info on the front ones so far.

Thanks for any thoughts, I'm having a tough day. Engine ticking, eating oil, wheel bearing, potential fuel return line check valve issue, possibly bad O2's or a vacuum leak.

 

[Dave Kegel]

The '89 was the only year that had rebuildable rear bearings. After that they were all sealed.

Although I've never seen one in person, I assume it's like bearings were "in the old days" where you just remove the nut, remove the hub and there's an inner and outer bearing race that you replace and repack with grease. I'd just check your local autoparts store for replacement rear bearings.

Dave Kegel

 

[sdpatt]

I believe that the '89s still used the packed bearings on the rear wheel hubs. Starting between then an '91, they switched to a sealed bearing. You should be able to buy the Timken hubs and bearings at AutoZone. I couldn't get their web page up right now, but I bought two hub and bearing assemblies for my '91 with the bearings already pressed in for a reasonable price. You will need a 36mm deep hub socket for the nut and a torque wrench that can twist 250 lb-ft.

 

[rendyx]

That doesn't sound half bad!

I assume I should go for both bearings, so I don't pull to one side. And second, what generally can cause this failure? Is it possible that the brake was dragging, overheating the area, and causing it to fail?

As for rebuilding, how would I go about trying that? Would you say it's still rebuildable?

<small>[ March 28, 2003, 03:20 PM: Message edited by: rendyx ]</small>

 

[pjtoledo]

sdpatt:
I believe that the '89s still used the packed bearings on the rear wheel hubs. Starting between then an '91, they switched to a sealed bearing. You should be able to buy the Timken hubs and bearings at AutoZone. I couldn't get their web page up right now, but I bought two hub and bearing assemblies for my '91 with the bearings already pressed in for a reasonable price. You will need a 36mm deep hub socket for the nut and a torque wrench that can twist 250 lb-ft.

On an 89 you might want to limit the nut torque to about 5 lbs-ft. No big socket is needed, just plain old slip-joint pliers.

Rendyx,,,there are 2 bearings on each side, a big (inner) and small(outer). You will also need new grease seals. Inspect the axle stud, the old bearing's inner race may have spun on the axle, galling it badly.

Perry Toledo,Ohio

<small>[ March 28, 2003, 10:05 PM: Message edited by: pjtoledo ]</small>