Rear Wheel Bearings

Well, looks like we all learned something new: What happens when you consistently put lots of weight on top of the rear axle. This info may be helpful for @JakeJake @Nick244

 

It's discouraging to see other shadetree mechanics doing good, careful work with reputable parts and get dismal results. I hope it was a bum part that got by QC, and the rebuild lasts the test of time DsrtRat!

 

Nailbender,

I certainly like to believe that I do good careful work. And your comment about being burned by a lousy part that got by QC really hits home for me - I have quite a few years' experience as QA manager and Quality Engineer with companies who produce structural components for civil and military aircraft, and letting a bad part "escape" your QA system is the #1 no-no. Increasingly, though, I'm reaching the conclusion that I made the wrong choice of a truck to carry this 1000 pound plus camper full-time. The tundra (and the tacoma and 4-runner) are great trucks, but I'm afraid I threw something at my Tundra that it just can't handle. Bearings that are correctly matched to the load should last 100K miles or more. If they fail at 20K or 5K, something is amiss beyond just the occasional sub-par part.

Further proof that, even at my tender age of late-70s, it's still possible to learn something. I definitely have from this whole exercise. I'll do my homework a little more thoroughly next time (if there is a next time).

Best,
DsrtRat

 

I’m willing to bet the failure is seal related allowing gear oil fluid intrusion into the bearing washing the grease out and increasing the friction leading to premature failure.

 

@shifty` Thanks for the tag!

I find this hard to believe, and lean more towards bad parts.

Ive used and abused a lot of vehicles and even so, have never seen or heard of this kind of rapid failure from a bearing.

Theres a lot of guys running the 1GT platform for truck camper duties. Probably even more using them as work trucks, overloaded day in and day out without the slightest thought of maintenance. I think if this were more than a one off situation the community would already have an idea.

Put another set in and giv'er 20k more...for science!

Heres a picture of me checking my rear wheel bearings

So maybe i'll be the guinea pig...

 

I don’t think it’s weight-related necessarily. There are a lot of people who carry similar weight in their 1st gens without this issue.

 

I would be in the same camp. I would look toward counterfeit parts before blaming the excess weight - having had several fake parts show up on my doorstep in the last while, some of which are very good looking fakes.

I would also check for a bent housing. My buddy is a drivetrain specialist and that's one thing they check for when axles start chewing up bearings. He pulls the rear axle shafts and uses a straight bar that passes through the differential gears, out to the outer bearings. If the shaft is centered in the axle bore on both sides, he can verify that the axle is straight. If one side of the bar is off center in the axle housing, the axle is bent. You can straighten an axle tube by grinding a flat on one side and applying a weld to the housing to selective tension or stretch whatever part of the axle needs straightening. One day, I saw him welding big fat beads on a Corporate 14 bolt 11.5" ring gear out of a duramax, thinking he was stitching in some bag mounts or a 4 link or some such fun-ness. Turned out he was straightening the housing using the above-mentioned bar and process.

 

Unless the bearing is Chinesium, doubtful it was overloaded. Gear oil intrusion from seal failure is more likely cause of bearing fail.

 

From my personal experience with a similar failure, I am with the others that gear oil intrusion may be the culprit. If your diff breather is clogged, the hot gear oil will build pressure and try to ventilate through the path of least resistance, which is the axle seals.

 

In the vintage audio world we have a concept of New Old Stock (NOS), the concept being simply that "they don't make 'em like they used to". It would be interesting to try and turn up OEM bearings that were made long before COVID changed the supply chain, and eliminate the "chinesium" factor from consideration.

 

Since I often travel to remote places for fishing, camping, etc., I've typically done required maintenance to minimize the chance of getting stranded. Even more important as my '05 now has logged 303k miles. Rear wheel bearings have not been on my radar, but probably should be. Perhaps it's just in my head because I'm paranoid about getting stranded, but sometimes I swear I hear abnormal "road noise" which I'm thinking could be the sound of rear wheel bearings in need of replacement. I am interested in folks' thoughts on when to replace rear wheel bearings. I haven't towed much or hauled significant weight, but 303k miles has me thinking it might be time.

 

I think it was PHM that said "when they sound like two cats fucking in a dumpster".

 

Seriously though, I don't think of wheel bearing failure as the kind of failure that will strand you. You'll know long before that happens.

 

When the WUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUB gets loud enough 30mph+, you'll want to replace it. It's still a long way from failure at that point, and I feel like that typically precedes anything screechy.

I've had catfight sounds happen maybe once? More often than not, I get wubwubs, and know it's time to change.

 

My suburban made a squeeling noise not unlike the disk brake pad squeelers when a wheel bearing failed. My Tundra just noticed progressively louder droning noises. Strangers riding in my car noted it seemed louder than most other cars which prompted me to change the wheel bearing in the rear diff and suddenly it was like a new car except for the that left exhaust manifold crack I've had since 80K miles many years ago.

 

Wouldn't have happened to be a 94-98 would it? It was my '98 Sierra that was screeching. Maybe it's just something with the GMT400 and/or the part GM was using during that timeframe.

 

This right here. I did myself just because i couldnt trust any shop to do the right way

 

2005 K1500 LT with 305,000 mi

 

New guy coming with the knockout!

#IYKYK

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