Wheel bearing replacement

[DarthChicken]

You've lost me Terry. 

I'm sorry you've had problems with Napa, but I'm not sure how that's relevant to my question on part numbers for the front bearings on our cars.

[Terry Kennedy]

[quote="DarthChicken"]
You've lost me Terry. 

I'm sorry you've had problems with Napa, but I'm not sure how that's relevant to my question on part numbers for the front bearings on our cars.[/quote]

A) Regardless of where you order them, you're likely to get a substitution for what you asked for, which may be sealed or un-sealed, and may be of a quality you wouldn't want to use on the Atom.
B) Unless I'm hallucinating, Randy's original post says front and rear are the same:

[quote="1965Cobra427"]
A complete car set includes (4) wheel bearings and (4) wheel seals.
[/quote]

[DarthChicken]

what I'm concerned about is all the problems that Dingo had, and that Randy's orginal post was modifed on Aug 29th, 2007 to say they are the same.

Yet, in this post

http://forum.atomclub.com/https://atomclub.com/phpbbnew/viewtopic.php?p=107302#p107302

dated Aug 23rd (a week earlier) it says something different. 

So, what I'm looking for, is somebody that has actually replaced the front bearings, and for them to provide the part number, if available.

[dingo]

I ended up "servicing" mine by removal of the axle stub but not the entire hub, then pried out the simple seal, repacked with axle grease and replaced the lot.
There has been no more seepage, oddly. I was sure there'd be some as I slathered a lot of extra grease in there, fully expecting to be wearing some of it again in a few days' time.
I have four suitably dimensioned new front bearings but none of them are truly sealed (as had been advertised).  The rears I need no longer concern myself with, as they're Dennis P's, rock solid, sealed and sorted.
I am waiting for Dennis P to produce a front hub with integrated sealed bearing, then I'm going that way. 

[DarthChicken]

Yeah, I have his rears... fronts, not sure if they are needed.

[Radowick]

I replaced my front bearings 7 months ago. I got mine at NAPA. Part # B32. They came packed in a NAPA box with small print on the back saying made by SKF, but the bearing itself is marked NGK - JAPAN. It is completely un-sealed. I replaced the seals. I packed them with lots of grease, and like Dingo's, they have yet to squeeze out any grease like my Brammo originals did so much. But I think that has more to do with the fact that I replaced the axle bolt bushing & washer. I didn't like the seal face on them. Brammo cut it on a taper and with too big of a corner radius. It promotted leaks. TMI made new ones also and was selling them at Aomfest 2. I guess they agreed with what I found. I also went as far as to have my bearings cryo treated in hope that these will last longer and mean I won't have to do this project again for a long time. And that will be good because I forgot to lightly coat the bore before pressing in the outside race.

[RyanD]

It looks like my rear wheel bearings are finally wearing out.  I might go ahead and replace all 4 while I'm at it.  It looks like these are the correct ones with internal seals.
http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/details/QQHondaQQAccordQQBeck_ArnleyQQWheel_BearingQQ19811985QQ051-3863.html?apwcid=P1135867996W43b3f85c7ab9e&apwidd657qzj

They offer a lifetime warranty on all 4 bearings for $77.20.  Is that worth it?

[silver]

[quote="RyanD"]
It looks like my rear wheel bearings are finally wearing out.  I might go ahead and replace all 4 while I'm at it.  It looks like these are the correct ones with internal seals.
http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/details/QQHondaQQAccordQQBeck_ArnleyQQWheel_BearingQQ19811985QQ051-3863.html?apwcid=P1135867996W43b3f85c7ab9e&apwidd657qzj

They offer a lifetime warranty on all 4 bearings for $77.20.  Is that worth it?
[/quote]

how do you know they are wearing out...serious question as I don't know how to tell....all I know is there's never been any grease seep out of any of my bearings, beyond that I don't know what to look for

[RyanD]

[quote="silver"]

how do you know they are wearing out...serious question as I don't know how to tell....all I know is there's never been any grease seep out of any of my bearings, beyond that I don't know what to look for
[/quote]

It looks like there is grease coming out of mine.  It also feels like there is some "play" in the rear bearings.  If you ever go to a track event with a decent tech inspection, they usually push and pull the top of your wheels to check for bearing play.  I can feel and hear my rear wheels moving a little when I do that.  My fronts have minimal movement.

[Richard Marler]

That normal shaking thing is what people always recommend, but unless its quite bad I find it difficult to tell. In fact on one that was very bad I still couldn't tell, because the bearing had pretty much seized.

Stu (Wasp) described sticking the rear of the car up on axle stands, putting the car in gear and letting the rear wheels spin. Apparently this can show vibration if the bearings are in bad shape.

[John Scherrer]

Grease coming out is a sure sign of overheating, presumably caused by breakdown of the bearing lining ..

[1965Cobra427]

On Brammo Atoms (at least) the seals are a separate part from the bearings which are not sealed. Grease leaking is a failure of the seal and may not mean a problem in the bearing, except that insufficient grease may lead to a bearing failure. Another possible cause of grease leakage is overheating the brakes. On any Atom, this would take very hard track abuse with slicks, high temperatures and very long sessions on a tight track. It is possible under these extreme conditions to heat the brake rotor and wheel hum assembly sufficiently to "melt" the grease, allowing it to escape the seals. Once the assembly cools, it will go back to not leaking further, but the wheel bearing grease should be replaced, along with the seals.

Once again on Brammo Atoms, there is a tendency on the rear for the bearing spacers (which were not hardened as they should have been) to peen down. This would loosen up the clamping load of the rear axle nuts and you can find many references to wheel bearing failure, rear upright failure, etc. on the forum, many containing my own experiences. The first indications of this include slightly sloppy wheel bearings (IE: tire can be "wiggled" slightly). This is best done with the tire off the ground, since the weight of the car will mask it otherwise until it has reached a much more advanced level of deterioration. Tightening of the rear axle nut is also a good way to check, but of course this requires a sizable torque wrench and a big socket, neither of which are laying around most folks' garages.

Worn spacer



On Brammo Atoms, if you do replace the rear wheel bearings, be sure to check the condition of the bearing spacers. If they are not perfectly smooth on their faces, they should be replaced. I'm pretty sure that TMI can furnish the correct hardened bearing spacers for a reasonable price.

Schematic diagram of rear hub/bearing/axle, etc.



By the way, having damaged and replaced at least  three axle sets of rear bearings, I have yet to have any issues with the fronts, which are still as delivered from Brammo. The front are very lightly loaded at about 275# of vehicle weight on each front tire so if these bearings are just well lubricated, they should last a very long time.

[simonrex55]

whats the part number on the wilwood caliper?

thanks

[1965Cobra427]

I'm away from my car right now, but I'm thinking it is a Dynalite P/N 120-5081

http://www.wilwood.com/Calipers/Caliper ... 20Dynalite

[simonrex55]

thanks