Dennis, what would you say the real life of the rear bearings actually
is, in terms of mileage?

John

On 1/19/2014 10:30 AM, Dennis Haynes wrote:
> If you can affect the rumbling noise by changing direction the problem is
> usually the front. The front bearings also fail much more often than the
> rears. To test you need to pull the calipers to get the pads off of them.
> Even then without load they sound OK but still be problem. The front bearing
> really should be inspected and re-lubed every 30K or each brake job.
>
> The play in the rear is normal. With the van rear very well supported you
> can let the engine spin the rear wheels and using a stethoscope (or big
> screw driver) on the housing a bad bearing will be evident. Once they are
> making noise grease will not fix them.
>
> Dennis
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> Jim Felder
> Sent: Sunday, January 19, 2014 11:10 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Tell me about rear bearings
>
> Of all the Vanagon things I have done, here is one I have not. On the road,
> at any speed, if I turn the car to the left so as to put the force on the
> right side, I hear a rum-rum-rum sound that matches the rotational speed of
> the car. Suspecting races that were not fully seated on the front wheels
> (like all low frequency sounds, it's hard to get a location on this by
> listening) after a recent replacement, I jacked up the front and checked the
> bearings. They don't move and any noise I hear I believe is the slight drag
> of the pads and on the rotors.
>
> I jacked up the rear and this is what I found: there is not any noticeable
> wobble on eaither of the rear wheels, but I can pull them in and out with a
> noticeable clunk and about 1/16 of free play, maybe a hair more.
>
> Does that signal replacement time, or is there more I could be doing to
> check the bearings? The car doesn't make any other unusual sounds form the
> drive train when going straight down the road.
>
> Jim
>