How far can I make it on a bad rear wheel bearing?

[jimk]

11 hours ago, Slavs said:

My hunch is that the 3.90 and 4.10 rear ends coupled with the 2 liter motor also put more stress on the rear bearings, especially if limited slip, in comparison to the stock 3.64. You're delivering a lot more torque and stress to the rear wheels with the numerically higher gear ratios. The bearing to first fail is always the right rear.

When it comes to bearing loads, wider tires ,stiffer sidewalls, and anti-roll bars don't help matters either with more aggressive cornering.

[rstclark]

AAA Premire  200 mile tows   Not sure about how many per year but 200 miles can be the difference from getting towed home and just being towed off the freeway 

[irdave]

59 minutes ago, rstclark said:

AAA Premire  200 mile tows   Not sure about how many per year but 200 miles can be the difference from getting towed home and just being towed off the freeway 

 

Just checked- we have the Premier.  Worth it.  Unless you're @wegweiser who takes it personally and reportedly forgoes AAA or any kind of tow insurance...

[TOOTII]

Alright, I'm gonna get it towed next week to the shop - no sense in taking any risks when I already have towing coverage on my auto insurance. Going to call today and make sure that my towing coverage will cover 18 miles, else I'll ask my roommate to hook me up with AAA (he works there and can get me a slight discount).

As for the 'why' of the thing, my car is a tii with a turbo attached. If the bearings were an achilles heel on these cars, I certainly would expect them to get obliterated on a car with close to twice the horsepower these things were designed for. I also drive fairly aggressively on occasion and certainly have exposed the bearings to some high axial loads. I'll look into the feasibility of higher-strength bearings, since it seems unlikely that these are going to last 25-50 years, as one poster said they should.

[rstclark]

Good call

[tech71]

Might as well  start sourcing a hub and stub axle now. From your description of your car and driving style, get a spare while you are at it

 

[TOOTII]

22 hours ago, tech71 said:

Might as well  start sourcing a hub and stub axle now. From your description of your car and driving style, get a spare while you are at it

 

Haha, probably a good point. Though I don't want anyone thinking I'm a nutjob, so I will clarify that when I said "fairly aggressively on occasion", I really meant that I'll take a corner hard once every few weeks, not that I'm burning rubber at every light like a savage. From what I hear, the previous owner drove it like he stole it, so I'm going to shoulder him with most of the blame. ?

 

I've already sourced some new bearings, and my shop should be able to find an extra stub, but if this happens again I'm probably going to rebuild the rear with hardened stub axles and tapered bearings. 

 

Thanks again for all the help, everyone! Happy driving!

[dang]

Aaaah yes, the rear wheel bearing.  It always reminds me of the 02 Fest in San Luis Obispo in 2002.  I was in a friend's 74 tii and staying in Santa Margarita.  The bearing started making a little noise when we got into town so I bought a bearing at the swap meet for about three times the normal price.  When I drove the car over the grade to get back to the place I was staying (if you've been there you know how steep it is) it sounded like a freight train behind me.  It was a mother of a job to get it off after being abused like that.  Had to heat it orange hot to get it out.  Yee haa!

['76mintgrün'02]

On 5/9/2019 at 10:36 AM, tech71 said:

Might as well  start sourcing a hub and stub axle now.

 

I am probably just stating the obvious, but the Tii hub is thicker than the standard 2002 hub.

more expensive too, of course.