Premature bearing failure.

[laser_jock@work]

Before I go off on rant to my supplier about cheap, Chinese bearings- can anyone think why a new rear wheel bearing would fail after less than a month? It's a bearing I installed 27th December- and I've done no offroading since.

I pulled out the offending bearing last night and it is badly worn. Trouble is that powdered bearing material has gotten past the diff seal and into the diff. I've flushed out the diff twice with new oil and will probably do it a third time at the weekend.

I have now installed an English made bearing in the hope that it might last longer than a month!

So what might cause a bearing to wear out so quickly? What supports the other end of the halfshaft- could this be worn? Are there any 'tracking' issues with rear wheels I need to be aware of?

The bearing on the other side, intalled in October, but from another supplier appears fine.

Your thoughts please.

Nevillef

[Guest]

Neville.

Only thing I can think of apart from inadequate grease is a bent halfshaft or a duff bearing. The Rear axle of the Surf is a Semi Floating type - the bearing on the outside takes the load of the halfshaft and the car so is under quite a bit of strain. The diff end does not really take any load and is not supported except by the diff output bearings.

I would definately have a go at the supplier - unless there is something obvious like the end of the shaft is out of true or the wheel is out of true - both of these could put excessive wear into the joint and cause premature failure. The Bearings should also be pretty well greased up so that shouldn't be a problem.

Bearings should definately not fail that quick unless there is a fundamental problem with the axle or more likely the beraing itself - it may have been assembled badly and had some bad swarf in there to start off with - either that or the diff is on the way out and some swarf has worked it's way down from there but I think you would know that cos the diff would sound like an old bag of nails.

Cheers

[andy]

I thought that another member on the forum had the same problem, could have been Marky but not sure on that.

[andy]

Nev

Do you have the part number for the English made bearing that you fitted, need to do one on mine in the next couple of weeks, so don't want the same happening.

[jet1749]

The arrangement with one bearing on the shaft and one on the outside of the axle is a three-quarter floating type. Most likely problem on any newly installed bearing is bad fitting technique. It is possible to get a duff bearing, but by and large all bearings are manufactured to high international standards. The set up costs to actually manufacture bearings are immense. I wouldn't necessarily blame the manufacturer, remember the Chinese have about the fastest growing economy in the world, and engineering kit needs to be spot on. It could be you have fitted an incorrect bearing, some different types look the same, for instance double row angular contact ball bearings typically used in front wheel drive wheel bearings can be face-to-face type. Others are back-to-back, they look virtually identical but are used in different applications. Others of the same dimensions have totally different contact angle to cope with different bearing loads. I have used bearings from the well known european and american manufacturers, only to examine them and find out they were made in their production plants in taiwan, malaysia, brazil, russia etc. Never had a problem with them. Examining the raceway tracks and balls can tell you exactly why they failed, its fairly easy to tell if the bearing was fitted cockeyed from the running tracks left on the races. leathering the bearing on with a lump hammer will leave tell tale indentations in the races etc. Generally fitting technique is all! scrupulous cleanliness, proper drifts and appropriate force applied to the correct race when fitting. If it feels rough when you have finished fitting it its ruined already!

[laser_jock99]

Well I hope I fitted the bearing correctly- it's the second one I fitted to the Surf. I used a big 8" vice to press it into the housing using the OUTER RACE of the old bearing to exert even pressure. Still I guess you can never be sure if something went wrong as it was fitted? Felt pretty smooth though. The wear is on both the internal races of the center hub and outer casing. The metal particles coming off were like tiny metalic flakes (like gold foil) almost as if the metal was soft- the balls look fine.

I'm assuming the bearing I had was correct for the Surf as it came from a supplier well known to us here. The new bearing I have is from

http://www.brt-bearings.com/1024x768/index.html

Part number is: Wheel Bearing Kit BRT523

Price is £30 but the kit INCLUDES bearing, inner dif seal, outer seal and the all important bearing retainer collar.

Bearing had Made In England on it. I'll watch it closely to see how long it lasts- if this one goes too quick then I'll know I have other problems.....

Nevillef

[jet1749]

Flaking of the surfaces is known as spalling, if you suspect that the bearings were soft you should have a cast iron case for replacement and compensation. Easy check is to get the failed bearing in a vice, get a good sharp file and try to put a file mark in the race. A good bearing will be impossible to mark with a file, the file will just skid off. The only bearing I ever had this kind of a fault with was an English manufactured one!

[laser_jock@work]

[QUOTE=jet1749]Easy check is to get the failed bearing in a vice, get a good sharp file and try to put a file mark in the race. A good bearing will be impossible to mark with a file, the file will just skid off.[QUOTE]

The bearing surfaces (inner & outer) was easy to mark with the tip of HSS drill.

Nevillef

[jet1749]

There's your soft bearing then. Don't matter if its a HSS drill bit or a file that marks it, they're both made of high speed steel. Try and get your money back and compensation for your wasted time.

[marky]

I thought that another member on the forum had the same problem, could have been Marky but not sure on that.

ANDY it was'nt me

[andy]

I found it by doing a search it was Hormygollop.

http://www.yotasurf.co.uk/forums/sho...t=rear+bearing

[laser_jock99]

I found it by doing a search it was Hormygollop.

http://www.yotasurf.co.uk/forums/sho...t=rear+bearing

Mmmmmilners......

I'd better get onto them about it.

Nevillef

[TonyN]

Linda's truck had 2 new rear bearings in it last month, I'm stripping it all out again tomorrow as its making a odd noise from the rear again after only 300 miles.

Can feel a pattern forming.......

[Linda]

Linda's truck had 2 new rear bearings in it last month, I'm stripping it all out again tomorrow as its making a odd noise from the rear again after only 300 miles.

Can feel a pattern forming.......

Guess what... yep bearing is shot to bits after only a couple of weeks.... this one was from Milners too, I've reordered from Roughtrax. The other bearing from Milners seems ok at the moment.... :fingers crossed:

[laser_jock@work]

Guess what... yep bearing is shot to bits after only a couple of weeks.... this one was from Milners too, I've reordered from Roughtrax. The other bearing from Milners seems ok at the moment.... :fingers crossed:

I think we have a good case for getting our money back.

Nevillef