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2G Wheel bearing shelf life? New Precision bearings failed from pushing the car.

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Funfettie

10+ Year Contributor
419
2
Sep 19, 2011
Menomonie, Wisconsin
Hay tuners,
I'm a bit blown away by an issue I found this morning. I've been building/restoring a 98 GSX for a few years, and recently moved over the past weekend. All four corners received new bearings (along with literally new everything), OEM bearings in the back, Precision bearings in the front (Oriley's brand of federal mogul I believe). Upon moving, I pushed the car ~40 feet onto a trailer, and another 40 feet into its new home. That is it.

I noticed this morning that the eyeball alignment I gave it when installing the front end was further off than I remembered. Jacked it up, grabbed hold of the wheel and found the bearings are completely toast. Wheels are tight to the hubs. Checked the lugs to make sure I wasn't loosing my mind. The outer race of the bearings is still firmly in place as it was when I torqued them in a few months back. The inner race of the bearings has an incredible amount of play to the outer.

I work in the manufacturing industry, we have a 3 year shelf life rule for sealed bearings as the grease can begin to break down and cause premature failures. I would assume this could also apply to wheels bearings?

Has anyone ever run into this issue? Are there any guidelines to maintaining sealed wheel bearings while a project car is being built? Do wheel bearings actually have a shelf life?

Car was kept in climate controlled garage, the fiance's project 2g was next to mine, her bearings have no signs of premature failure.

Thanks all!

-Tanner T.
 
Even with axles installed the bearings wear sitting in 1 place for so long. Same as tires do, when storing a car for long periods of time or to rebuild it needs to have zero load on the wheels,

What you will also find is your suspension bushes are dry rotted and torsioned in the same place and wont be as effective as it would be new, so you will want new wheel bearings and to also check the suspension bushes and shocks for dry rot!
 
The front axles were not installed as there is nothing in the engine bay to support the other ends. Is that a guideline I've somehow missed over the past 10 years?
Yes, with no axles installed the inner race wont be pulled into the outer race properly, they leave a gap on purpose so that when you load them they arent too tight.
 
Thanks for the replies ladies and gents. Guess in my mind wheel bearings were rolling element bearings, it apears they are actually tapered roller bearings to support the thrust load of a tightened axle.
 
Thanks for the replies ladies and gents. Guess in my mind wheel bearings were rolling element bearings, it apears they are actually tapered roller bearings to support the thrust load of a tightened axle.
Nope wrong. We have large roller ball bearings. We dont have taper bearings
 
Don't assume you have ruined the bearings. It appears that most of the bearings are ball type, some of them double row. So far I can't find the outer front bearings listed, so I'm unsure of it. I suspect that without the axle stubs, the bearings have walked out of position, hence the wobble. If the outer front are taper, those might be damaged.

Find some old axles and remove the wheel end stub to use to give you proper hub and wheel locating for moving a shell around.
 
Don't assume you have ruined the bearings

It appears that most of the bearings are ball type, some of them double row. So far I can't find the outer front bearings listed, so I'm unsure of it. I suspect that without the axle stubs, the bearings have walked out of position, hence the wobble. If the outer front are taper, those might be damaged.

Find some old axles and remove the wheel end stub to use to give you proper hub and wheel locating for moving a shell around.

You have the main hub which seats a deeper groove for the two rows and then on the outer and inner sides are two retaining caps with what seems to be 1/2 grooves and these also slide onto the shaft of the hub flange where the splines are present.

The surfaces are hardened for the race and its likely from sitting in this position for a while its caused the race to deform a bit, its why its said that if storing a car take all load of the wheels and suspension

Some pics to show the hub race and the outer cap/race in case anyone is interested.

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Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks for the replies everyone, and thank you for the photos ec17pse! There may be a chance I could crank down an axle in the bearing to re seat the races but Id rather warranty the bearings rather than risk failure. The car only sat on its wheels for a few months so im assuming its just from rolling it around that they worked loose. Ill be picking up a few pairs of outer cups to prevent this from occurring again.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone, and thank you for the photos ec17pse! There may be a chance I could crank down an axle in the bearing to re seat the races but Id rather warranty the bearings rather than risk failure. The car only sat on its wheels for a few months so im assuming its just from rolling it around that they worked loose. Ill be picking up a few pairs of outer cups to prevent this from occurring again.

You shouldn't need extra cups, just put the axles in and torque them to spec. If you don't want the axle to drag on the ground, ziptie them up.

My car sat for almost 3 years, and was moved all over, before I finished it, and my new wheel bearings I put in right after getting the car hasn't had any issue, even after several suspension and axle pulls/re-installs.
 
"... ziptie them up."
The potential problem with this is that the end yokes may come apart,, as at least one of the two ends of the axle is only held on by the boot when not installed where it belongs. Also, you are getting those clean, greased parts dirty, unless you bag them. Hanging those axles with the yokes dangling is stressing the boots, and may cause early failure, and may actually pull the joint apart.
 
"... ziptie them up."
The potential problem with this is that the end yokes may come apart,, as at least one of the two ends of the axle is only held on by the boot when not installed where it belongs. Also, you are getting those clean, greased parts dirty, unless you bag them. Hanging those axles with the yokes dangling is stressing the boots, and may cause early failure, and may actually pull the joint apart.

You hang them from the tires (or wire or whatever you choose) close to the inner joint so they don't sag...
done this on several cars and never had an issue.

If it really bothers you, get some used axles, disassemble them and put the stub ends in.
 
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