>  lvlearn@MCI2000.COM quoted from his email:
>
><<  Mark publicly stated in his note that he DID hear bearing
>noises.  Yet Joshua went on to say:
> "As for transmissions, I doubt it would be of much value to
>preemptively  replace the bearings. If you listen carefully,
>you'll hear bearing noise long  before the thing grenades."   >>

I guess I should have said there's not much value to preemptively replacing
bearings that are not making noise. And you do have a very good point Todd,
most people don't notice transmission noise sneaking up on them. Finally I
did make a mistake in replying to that post, I somehow filtered out the
fact that Mark had said he was hearing some noise.

>
>I disagree with Joshua.   By the time you begin to hear bearing
>or other worn parts making noise in the gearbox the damage is
>done.  Listen to an air-cooled motor and then to a water-cooled
>motor.  Hear the difference?  Most of the engine mechanical
>noise is blanketed by the water jackets.  Same holds true with
>a gearbox and the gear oil.  The noises of the beginning stages
>of failure that you might be able to hear can be muffled by the
>gear lube.  By the time the worn part(s) are bad enough to make
>enough noise to be heard then its really toasted.   Most failures
>are gradual and the driver grows accustomed to these noises.
>If a stranger (to the vehicle) drives the car then they tend to pick
>up quite quickly that something is wrong.  I don't know how
>many times I've gone for a test drive and heard a mainshaft
>bearing howling like a banshee but the owner wasn't concerned
>or simply didn't realize that there was a major failure.  What you
>allow to happen by not replacing worn parts as soon as you
>notice them is that other parts will be affected by this lack of
>maintenance and the job can end up costing you even more.

True. Listen up folks, Todd knows what he's talking about.

Joshua Van Tol -- jjvantol@lear.csp.ee.memphis.edu