Rear Civic wheel bearing update.

I had a chance to check my friend's car. The main source of noise
was the tire, but there is more noise from that wheele then from
the other side or either of mine. He only drives around own at
speeds of less then 45 for short distances. When he gets his next
disability check at the first of Oct he will order a replacement
from Manchester Honda. The local consensus is that the bearing is
very unlikely to sieze under the driving conditions I have discribed.
I am a little leary but it is his car not mine.

What are the chances that he will be able to get away with what
I consider to be an insane, or desperate, course of action?

Thanks for the advice and comments. It is not going to be near as
tough as I feared. He had teh rear brakes shoes replaced in the
spring and teh drum shoudl come "right off".
Or at least hat is my hope.

Terry

 

=======================

I was surprised to find you can get wheel bearings (hub) from places
like NAPA and Canadian Tire. WAY cheaper.

'Curly'

 

wrote in

Jack up the wheel and spin it by hand. If the bearing is bad, you'll know
right away (rumble rumble).

Those rear bearings don't go bad very often, since they are well-protected
from the weather, unlike the fronts.

 

TeGGeR® wrote:
Jack up the wheel and spin it by hand. If the bearing is bad, you'll
know
right away (rumble rumble).

Those rear bearings don't go bad very often, since they are
well-protected
from the weather, unlike the fronts.

--
TeGGeR®
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In a post some time ago in thsi NG I think you mentioned
that an unloaded wheel bearing could be silent.

This one is "silent" tothe ear. I am going to use a
high gain mic/amp to listen to weak sounds. If
nothing else I am learing "stuff" that might help
myself someday. I have to dig out an electronic
stethoscope I built 3+ decades ago that used a
crystal phono cartridge coupled to a uA709
for just this task. At the time my Honda CB350
was acting funny and I suspected the front wheel
bearings.

Would you agree the risk of the bearing siezing is
minimal with the conditions Istated?

Terry

 

wrote in

Not me. Every bad bearing I have personally encountered was either rough to
the hand when spun, or rumbled audibly. I'm sure some are silnet, but I
don't know how common that is.

Bearings normally go bad for three reasons:
1) Water ingress that causes rust (fronts are prone to this), or
2) impact that damages the balls or puts little dents in the races, or
3) the surface of the balls starts flaking off from compression stress
(typical of transmission bearings).
All of these conditions normally result in noise.

Yes. Very minimal.

But...Tell your friend to keep an ear out for odd noises. If he suddenly
starts hearing a very loud howling from the rear, STOP THE CAR IMMEDIATELY!

 

TeGGeR® wrote:

Not me. Every bad bearing I have personally encountered was either
rough to
the hand when spun, or rumbled audibly. I'm sure some are silnet, but I
don't know how common that is.

Bearings normally go bad for three reasons:
1) Water ingress that causes rust (fronts are prone to this), or
2) impact that damages the balls or puts little dents in the races, or
3) the surface of the balls starts flaking off from compression stress
(typical of transmission bearings).
All of these conditions normally result in noise.

Yes. Very minimal.

But...Tell your friend to keep an ear out for odd noises. If he
suddenly
starts hearing a very loud howling from the rear, STOP THE CAR
IMMEDIATELY!

--
TeGGeR®
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I have relayed your comments to him and I am certain he will follow
the advice. I will not be able to get over unitl Sat afternoon, I will
test it
and post the results here. I found my usper doper eletcronic
stethyscope and it still works! I intend to jack my car up and listen
to what I think are good bearings to get a feel for how "noisy" they
are.

I ambettingthat one could capture the soundandrun it through a PC
wiht an audio FFT/waterfall program and detect war long before
failure.

Terry