Hib Halverson
Technical Writer for Internet & Print Media
Bearings, aside, the clicking can be dirty splines but it also can be a incorrect, faulty or improperly installed thrust washer.
Help! Could it be the spindal?
- Thread starter JOHNNYB
- Start date
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2007
- Messages
- 720
- Location
- Amherst, NY
- Corvette
- 1996 Torch Red Coupe (Prior 1988 and 1989)
My bearing play test was just as Boomdriver suggested. 12:00 and 6:00, push and pull. I could feel play. Used a dial indicator to measure, but that said they were in spec. As Boomdriver suggested, unacceptable, time for new hubs. This is a vette with only 61,000 miles on it. The clicking noise did not start until the rear camber was set during an alignment which changed the pressure points. I wire brushed the spline and applied anti-seize. Used the Napa spline kit to replace the spline nut, nut cover, and pin. From what I have read, the rear hubs go first (driver's side then passenger). My front hubs have no play.
boomdriver
Well-known member
TedC is absolutely right.....
rears go first because of the TREMENDOUS torque that the bearing has to handle. The rear wheel wants to twist out of shape with every application of throttle,road surface, lateral loading (all at the same time) and then reciprocating forces try to take it the opposite way everytime you let off the gas...rears have a very hard life.
Remember, the REAR wheel has to be secured by a 5 pt link system, becasue of the huge amount of stress. Front wheels are only secured up/down with variable control to turn. There is no torque to deal with. Rears will get loose in approx 80K and fronts in around 120K.
The sealed bearing principle theorizes that IF the bearing remaines clean then its wear is minimized or even eliminated.; Grease zerks allow contaminants to enter either with the grease or the seal that gets distorted when over-greased. Besides, grease attracts and holds contamination and that is what causes wear in super-hardened bearings. Once grit gets in, it cannot get out unless you grease daily to flush it out.
The single best thing that anyone can do for their cars suspension and wheels is to clean the underside as well as they do the top side. A roll of quarters, a rain-suit and a floor jack once or twice a year will work wonders. A lite spray of a wet silicone lube on bushings and seals finishes the housekeeping work where no one can see.
rears go first because of the TREMENDOUS torque that the bearing has to handle. The rear wheel wants to twist out of shape with every application of throttle,road surface, lateral loading (all at the same time) and then reciprocating forces try to take it the opposite way everytime you let off the gas...rears have a very hard life.
Remember, the REAR wheel has to be secured by a 5 pt link system, becasue of the huge amount of stress. Front wheels are only secured up/down with variable control to turn. There is no torque to deal with. Rears will get loose in approx 80K and fronts in around 120K.
The sealed bearing principle theorizes that IF the bearing remaines clean then its wear is minimized or even eliminated.; Grease zerks allow contaminants to enter either with the grease or the seal that gets distorted when over-greased. Besides, grease attracts and holds contamination and that is what causes wear in super-hardened bearings. Once grit gets in, it cannot get out unless you grease daily to flush it out.
The single best thing that anyone can do for their cars suspension and wheels is to clean the underside as well as they do the top side. A roll of quarters, a rain-suit and a floor jack once or twice a year will work wonders. A lite spray of a wet silicone lube on bushings and seals finishes the housekeeping work where no one can see.
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