Some play on the rear bearings is normal.
401K kilometers equals roughly 240,000 miles.  What I find is that they
seldom fail ( the rear whl. brgs ) ..........they just get a lot of miles on
them......
eventually, at very high milage, or having some other reason, you do the
rear wheel bearings.  A quarter millioni miles is plenty !

One test .............should you happen to notice any rumbling from the rear
doing turns or even circles at low speed in a big empty parking
lot............
I had this recently on a westy............going in a circle to the right
would make a 'rumbling bearing-like noise'.............going to the right it
wasn't there.
I replaced the left ( outer in a right turn ) wheel bearings and all was
fine.
They don't always do that though - they are what I call
'nebulous'.............they can be very tired, but not failed.
Some play is defenitley normal..........with the tire on , rocking the top
in and bottom outward , I'd expect 20 thousandths play.

if you think it's shoes rubbing, to test for that, you just apply the brakes
lightly while driving slowly - usually that will make the sound increase,
decrease, or go away........letting you know that it's brake-related.  To
test for front or rear, you apply the rear brakes only, using the parking
brake, of course.

Scott
www.turbovans,.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Shawn Wright" <vwdiesels@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2008 3:39 PM
Subject: Rear wheel bearings - adjust or replace?

> While trying to trace a noise from the left rear wheel, I discovered some
> play in the bearings.
> The noise sounds more like rubbing shoes on a warped drum, and I detected
> it last time I
> raised the rear wheel & turned by hand, but this time it was gone. I
> pulled the drum, and
> found the new shoes (less than 5k kms) are barely worn in, with only a bit
> of wear on the
> leading edge of the shoes - could the roughness of new shoes cause a
> scraping noise?
> (drum is smooth, no rust).
>
> About the bearings: given the hassle to loosen that big nut, I assume if
> there is any play in
> the bearing, this means replacement time, right? I can't find any record
> of them being done,
> and the van has 410k kms, so it's probably time.
>
>
> Shawn Wright
> http://members.shaw.ca/vwdiesels
> '88 Westy 1.6TD 5 speed
> '85 Jetta Diesel 1.6NA
>
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