Eating Front Wheel Bearings

[hippiekiller]

What should I check here, I've gone through 2 front right wheel bearings in less than 20K....the actual race that the bearing is pressed into has a little gouging (from a po) but everything sits tight in there and bolts up nice...the book calls for 195  ftf.lbs on the axle nut, I may have overtorqued?  I had me alignment done when I bought the car, just before I replaced the first (shop installed) bearing...thanks to all...

[veedubcanuck]

Well over-torquing could be a cause and so can bad body to motor grounding believe it or not. Are you using good quality bearings? Cheap ones tend to not have much grease and are poor quality at best and can fail in no time...

[Dakotakid]

You'll have to define "gouging."
If the inner surface of the spindle (where the bearing is received/sits) is distorted, it can essentially be producing pressure at one point in the outer race (of the installed bearing) and causing a "tic" or out-of-round groove where the ball bearings run. In other words, the new bearing does not cleanly slip into position within the spindle and the grooves of the bearing race are "tweaked" out of shape (narrowed or flattened spot or spots in the groove).
This uneven ball groove causes uneven wear and shortened bearing life....and gives your thumb some exercise as you hitch for a ride!!!!!

A previous owner may have not had a replacement bearing in proper position when he initiated installation (while using a press) and simply increased the pressure until the bearing eventually was forced into the spindle ultimately producing an out-of-round surface.

If this is the case, I would probably score a good spindle this time around.

I actually never use a press to install spindle bearings. I use heat and a good ball peen hammer and good technique...but, I would NOT recommend this to most folks. I've never had a problem doing it this way and I started doing it like this due to living in realitively poverty-stricken conditions ( ....the old "necessity is the Mother....."). I usually get right at 180,000 out of a good Fafnir or Timkin.

[Doug]

Welcome to the world of cheap Chinese product masquerading under so called brand names. I have had bearing issues as well, not fronts, thank heavens just rears. I have even replaced trailer bearings only one year old. I think that you need to find a better quality bearing even if it seems too expensive. SKF used to be made here or Europe. Now the name is on the box but who knows the quality inside. The balls or rollers could be Chinese with the bearing assembled in Mexico. There are many grades of quality under a brand name. A lot of after market auto parts supply is dredged from the bottom quality with little attention to durability. Most of the industrial bearing supply houses get you a good quality bearing at a reasonable cost. At 195 lb/ft torque limit I doubt that you would damage the bearing if you are using hand tools. The shop may have done a sloppy press job on the install. Did you check the new bearing for sufficient grease? Many seem to be very lightly packed, almost like not enough. You can carefully pry out the seals to check the grease pack. Pre mid '87 front wheel bearings are smaller which are more prone to failure than later model bearings. One of the reasons that the later hubs used a larger bearing.

[the caveman]

Are you being careful to press  at the outer edge of the new bearing? does the spindle come off really easy ?
 If the cv joint is good quality then ,yes it's possible to overtighten,  but you'd have to be really trying. I have never had an issue with that. I  just use an impact gun and tighten until the nut stops moving and then some. And before someone screams at me, this is not with ginormous cfm or the strongest gun, just regular [what ever that means] which probably  turns out to about 250-300 ft lbs.

[Dakotakid]

Are the Ruvill brand junk??? Are those Chinese?

[Doug]

I used the Ruville brand on the rear last time with "fingers crossed" some success. The country of origin on the box says South Korea. But who knows? Maybe they are churned out of some sweat shop in China or Indonesia before being branded. I suspect that most bearings of one type ie. VW wheel bearings are probably cranked out of a couple of manufacturing lines in the world, then rebranded to the majors. That is not confidence inspiring if you have had anything to do with Korean cars. Ruville is supposed to be a French manufacturer of good quality. The last time I replaced fronts I used FAG from an industrial house with good service. Maybe they were built on the same line as your Ruville bearings! Like I said the quality is all over the map. Globalisation has shipped out our jobs for cheap consumer crap which we seem to crave like junkies.

[hippiekiller]

I'm gonna have it apart this weekend hopefully and I'll take some pics of the spindle...I'm pretty sure that both the bearing and the cv are reputable euro brands from my local import repair shop, he did mention to me to check the hub sleeve for wear....

[rabbitman]

I bought an SKF front bearing and it said "Made in Spain".

[burn_your_money]

This is from this mk1 thread on vortex

The front wheel bearings use the cheap VW white plastic for the ball cages & a lame white grease. If you get tired of changing them, you can repack them with a good synthetic grease. Timkin makes some with tapered roller bearings rather than the ball bearings. They should last longer, but I have never tried them. The Timkin # is (SET35). Honda uses the same size front wheel bearing in the '84 CRX 1.3 & the '85-'87 CRX 1.5 HF. You can still buy the original factory Honda made in Japan bearings that will outlast any of the VW ones you can buy now, due to the closer tolerances & the better steel, grease & plastic used. They are not cheap though.

Only good for the early (small) sized hubs though

[ozzie]

the last time i bought rear bearings for my jetta at the local parts store i asked them to please not give me something from mexico (because i have had problems).  their response - you hope they will be from mexico.  other options included bangledash and singapore.

it stinks to be in a hurry and need something right away.

oz