Rear wheel bearing life can be all over the place. Typically 150K+ if they
get a little care. Fronts (2dw), on the other hand, the outers especially
are higher maintenance. They are much smaller for the load, get a lot of
heat from the breaks, and tend to get contaminated.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
JRodgers
Sent: Sunday, January 19, 2014 11:40 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Tell me about rear bearings

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
>