MOT advisory comment - wheel bearings

[The colonel]

The Wedge passed the MOT ok - but with a couple of advisories:-

Front nearside wheel bearing, bit of excess play.
- easy enough to tweak up.

Rear nearside wheel bearing, bit of excess play.
- not so easy to deal with, (big 230 ft/lb nut involved) this I would have the TVR specialist fix.

Question is - how risky is it to leave it and just monitor it? The local TVR guy checked it 1000 miles ago and said the play was minimal.
I know some of the play gets removed when the bearing warms up.
Anyone know whether these bearings fail and could let the wheel come off?
My 3 wheel driving skills are not as good as Kimi Raikkonen :eek:

[andymadmak]

They are Mk2 granada bearings from memory. Front no great shakes, but the rears need to be monitored as when they let go it can all get a bit messy quite quickly.


Andy

[GreenV8S]

The bearing is going to get hideous before you actually lose the wheel - the stub axle is well secured to the diff by the half shaft. But it's a well known problem for the hub retaining nut to come loose, and then you can get overtaken by the wheel ...

[SEvans]

I would have thought any play in the rears needs looking at, but would agree it will get bad before letting go. As the front's are taper bearings it's difficult to remove all the play. I would say a slight amount is normal. The flip side is that it's over tightened which can be worse.

[adam quantrill]

The 230 lbf torque figure is really for bearings that are new.

I reckon that after they get a little worn, you can usually torque up the hub nut almost by hand (notwithstanding the locking plastic).

What I do is to re-torque to maybe 150 lbf and re-drill the split pin. When doing this, first note the position of the original drill hole through the stub axle (a few strokes from a hacksaw will leave a groove). Then it's a simple matter to drill the nut again after torquing up using the groove as a guide, and you don't pepper the stub axle with holes.

[leorest]

adam quantrill said:

The 230 lbf torque figure is really for bearings that are new. I reckon that after they get a little worn, you can usually torque up the hub nut almost by hand (notwithstanding the locking plastic). What I do is to re-torque to maybe 150 lbf and re-drill the split pin. When doing this, first note the position of the original drill hole through the stub axle (a few strokes from a hacksaw will leave a groove). Then it's a simple matter to drill the nut again after torquing up using the groove as a guide, and you don't pepper the stub axle with holes.

Are you sure?
I torque to 230 lbf regardless of new/old bearings.
L

[19560]

leorest said:

I torque to 230 lbf regardless of new/old bearings.

I can't see any justification for a reduced figure either. Split pins/nylocks are anti-vibration devices not reasonns to knock a third off the torque settings which have been determined from the power and braking of the car. If you find that the split pin won't align then simply retighten with an appropriate shim; no need for drilling and gauging threads.

[jmorgan]

Sure the rear is not the uj playing up?

>> Edited by jmorgan on Friday 3rd June 08:38

[rus wood]

Don't tighten up the front bearings too much. There should be some play otherwise the bearings will lock up and trash the stub axle. I know because I have been there.

[adam quantrill]

All I'm saying is don't go bananas over the massive torque figure when re-torquing, because after a few hundred miles I bet you could re-torque again as the bearing would have worn in that little bit further. The shims are a good idea.

And yes, be careful with the torque on the front ones, don't overdo it. I like to re-apply the grease while I'm at it, having cleaned off the old stuff, at least on the outer race.

- Adam

[Aaron C. Reskew]

I'm not too sure if the rear bearings require any more or less than the torque figure stated.
From memory they are not taper roller types so you do not have any play.
The nut is clamping the two bearing centres tight enough not to come loose, with the added security of the pin.
If you tried to torque taper roller bearings up they would be total scrap within seconds.