Do a search for "catastrophic bearing failure photos" and you'll be
motivated to fix it!

Stuart

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Jim Felder
Sent: Sunday, January 19, 2014 8:10 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