Signs of rear hub bearing failure?

[Generalee0527]

Have heard a loud thump and sharp ting at various speeds, generally at low speed while accelerati g or maneuvering in parking lot. Just clocked 359k miles today. Wondering if it is hub, u-joint, half shaft?

 

[theterminator93]

A bad wheel bearing usually manifests as a growl as you pick up speeds, most audible in the 30-50 MPH range IMO. A bad U-joint could contribute to driveline vibration and cause clunks when the direction of power through the drivetrain reverses (e.g. accelerating or engine braking).

If you hold your foot on the brake and switch between reverse and drive, a thump would imply driveline play. If that's the case you'd need to isolate the location of the worst of it - though I'd go out on a limb and say there's undoubtedly some play in all the major components by now.

You can do some basic tests to determine how much driveline wear you have, and localize it.

Put the rear end of the car in the air so both wheels are suspended. With the transmission still in park, try and turn one of the wheels. If you have a limited-slip differential the tire should stop after minimal rotation. With an open diff (or a limited slip that has worn out clutches) the tire on the other side will spin in the opposite direction. You might need to brace the other tire or find a helper to hold it still (or just to watch other components for movement).

To narrow down the play in the driveline, you would need to watch the halfshafts and driveshaft carefully relative to the motion of the tire to determine which moves (and how much) when you rotate the tire. If the tire moves without the halfshaft moving, it would be a worn out CV joint in the halfshaft at the wheel bearing. If the halfshaft moves but the driveshaft doesn't, pay close attention to the inner segment of the halfshaft at the diff to determine if that end is worn, or if it is worn gears in the diff. Give the same attention to the driveshaft after all the play/slack in the halfshafts/diff have been taken up and the torque of your spinning the wheels is transferred to the driveshaft. If the pinion end of the driveshaft moves but the driveshaft itself does not, it could be the rear U-joint. If the driveshaft moves but the driveshaft yoke does not move, it could be the front U-joint. You could also check the driveshaft by just grabbing it and trying to rotate it, but you'll get more torque to it by turning the wheels.

Put another way, where something that moves meets something that doesn't, there's driveline slack there. Some is to be expected... but a very limited amount, and not in the diff or bearings like U-joints.

 

[Generalee0527]

For about a month now I have been hearing a chirp when slightly turning to the right at 5-10mph as I leave work thru some chicanes. This loud ting and thump like I hit a pothole but the front wheel missed it? I did notice cruising home at 70 mph that if it was under light load (not coasting) I could hear a low growl. I am suspect of the left rear hub. I crawled and looked all around and all boots are intact, no leaks on diff, driveshaft was in place and no clunk shifting between r & d. I just put new u-joints in w/ alum ds and changed fluid in different about 6 months ago. I removed the diff thinking it was bad and just had some roughness but syn oil quieted it down. I am gonna have to check that left rear hub and soon.

 

[theterminator93]

A number of years ago I pulled the hubs off and brought them, along with new bearings, to a local driveline shop. They installed them for $20 a side. Worth looking into if you don't have a 20T press handy.

 

[Swamprat]

Have heard a loud thump and sharp ting at various speeds, generally at low speed while accelerati g or maneuvering in parking lot. Just clocked 359k miles today. Wondering if it is hub, u-joint, half shaft?

When my rear wheel bearings began to fail at around 100,000 miles I first noticed it when I jacked up the car to rotate tires. With a rear wheel jacked up I could definitely grab the tire/wheel with both hands and make it move around.. and it shouldn't move at all.

Recently at 107,000 miles I hear a clunk at times when shift into gear and feel some slop in the drive train when on the highway and let off on the gas with no load on the car. I jacked it up, the u-joints, half shafts, and bushings are fine but there is some excessive lash in the differential, which I could see with the parking brakes applied, transmission in neutral, and rotating the drive shaft by hand. People who know more than me say that this is not to be unexpected with a car with over 100,000 miles. My bird only comes out in nice weather so at the moment I'll just put up with it until I stumble across a good and not overly expensive solution to the issue. Given the age of our cars you might also want to check the bolts/bushings that hold the rear subframe in place along with the brackets mounted in front of the rear subframe that tend to rust out over time.

 

[Grog6]

100k miles is not very long for a rear wheel bearing; Our driveshafts suck, they are two sheets of thin steel, glued together with rtv.
They separate, and cause noise and vibration. On Lazarus, I spun them apart; if I hit second hard, it would turn inside itself, and seemed like the trans slipping. Find a 93 mark 8 driveshaft for the long haul. I bought PST aluminum driveshafts ($450) and never had another prob.In the red car and Lazarus, the og ds failed. I replaced the one in the tbird within a month of me buying it.

 

[Generalee0527]

Really weird handling lately. level road, steady speed, no wind and it seemed to be swaying like a really groovy song was playing (It wasn't). really un-nerved me today as i ran all kinds of scenarios through my head as I did remove the Diff earlier this year and put it back. I was thinking one bolt was out and the rear mount was taking the slack and then BOOM! like the driveshaft hit the floorpan but no flutter or continued noise. Drove gingerly home then pulled flashlight and inspection mirror (Days are too short now) and found that the driver's side end link was missing a nut and the bolt had perched it'self on top of the lower spring mount. Well that extra loading explains the swayin'. I guess the pop has been the bolt passing up and down and landing on the perch. At least this is fixable without a lot of hassle.

 

[Generalee0527]

Look what I found! The level of play scares me that I was flying like in a Boeing 737max.

 

[GRWeldon]

Wow. Didn't find this until you removed the half-shaft huh? I've got some intermittent weirdness in my suspension that I think could be bearings. Might have to check them.

Can you imagine the mess if this bearing had seized or worse yet, exploded? Glad you found it in time. Now I'm worried about all of mine...

 

[XR7-4.6]

That looks like the front hub assembly, the bearing is on the inside of those whereas the rear is on the outside(pressed into the knuckle). Plus the rear bearing isn’t a ball bearing design like the front

That’s probably worn out but the inner races are by design slightly “loose” even brand new when it’s uninstalled. it’s when you have them effectively clamped between the spindle and nut that they tighten up and preload the bearings.

 

[White Lincoln]

When I replaced my CV axles recently, I took a good look at the hub bearing and it was tight and had friction when you moved the bearing, all good signs that it was not worn out. They don't wear out that often like the fronts do. My fronts, I could wobble the hub a bit and once I replaced them, I could do over 90 without vibration in the wheels.