[FocusSpin]

The skinny:
1. Are my rear drum bearings broken ?

I was getting a lot of squealing noise from the rear drums ( couldn't tell which one ) so I had a look this morning.
The brake shoes look fine. There was a lot of dust.

My observations:
a. First thing I noticed was that there was a lot of grease around the nut, before removing the nut, which, no doubt came from inside the bearing.
b. There was a lot of play in the inner jacket of the bearing, and I mean lateral, off axis.
c. On one of the bearings, the ring that it's supposed to keep the grease in and the dust out was very loose, moving up and down inside the bearing.

This is getting me confused: Once back on the axle, the drums don't jiggle, is it normal for the inner jacket of the bearing to have some play while off the axle ? I guess it's normal there's no play when the drum is tight on the axle.

Could a bad bearing be the cause of the squeaking noise ( when I brake ) ?
Funny enough, now that I've removed the drums and cleaned them a bit, there's no more noise ( 10km or so now ).

I am looking at bearings on ebay and the prices vary by quite a bit. From 40$ for a pair to 45$ for a single one.
Can anybody point an average quality bearing and maybe better one ?

Thank you everyone for any thoughts on this !

 

[sailor]

Cleaning up the brakes can take care of the squeal. Chamfering the leading/trailing edge of the shoes when installing (if not done by factory) & lubricating pivots/contact points of shoes (never seize works) helps when doing brake work.

Loose seal bearing is getting worn (seal), they aren't tight until preloaded by being squeezed together when hub nut is torqued, that's why Vince mentioned the 173ft.lb. in the other thread.

Made you your own thread here, the best way to get your own questions answered.

Welcome to FF

 

[freemind]

Timken and SKF bearings are the ONLY way to go.

Duralast and the rest are crap.

Remember, 173 ftlbs

 

[reidk]

Be sure to rotate the wheel as you tighten the nut.

Reid

 

[amc49]

Yes to all that, the side seals can move around a bit even on new bearing. Do NOT buy the value priced bearing, they often don't even spend the 1/4 penny for grease in them.

If bearing is dismounted off its' center post the centers on both sides can move around as they are pinched together at tightening time. Two bearings in a common outside and inside race, they tighten up to running tolerance when bolted down, why you spin them when torquing them up. It helps settling in place properly to occur.

 

[FocusSpin]

See below please.

 

[FocusSpin]

Bearing Problems Fiasco

Hi there, I wanted to share with you the outcome of all the bearings problems.

I did replace the bearings with the help of a neighbour. I did get the cheap ones, but I am afraid the pressing of the bearings ruined any chance of working properly.
The method used was freezing the bearings and heating the shaft of the drum with a blow torch. At least one of the bearings got a little bit cooked, smoke came out of it during the procedure.

The result was unsatisfactory. There was less squealing and quite soon, within the month, I got a lot of grinding noise.

After about a year or so I picked used drums from Pick and Pull, selected the best pair out of 4 sets, but I still made a very bad decision. No grinding or squeaking, but one drum had a bent bolt, you could only see it when mounting the wheel, because it didn't fit quite well. I decided to go with it and probably combined with forgetting to tighten the nuts ( can't be 100% sure on this ) two bolts broke off while driving, and almost lost the wheel. Pretty scary stuff.

I was away from home travelling, but I did manage to get it fixed in about two hours by myself. Bought parts and tools at local shop and on my way I was.

I still get a bit of squeaking noise but only once in a while.
The parking break is very loose, almost doesn't matter if I do it or not, even on small incline the car slides.

Will have to revisit all my work sometime soon, I will be replacing the pads for sure this time.

Thank you for all the advice, this is a great forum.