I replaced front wheel bearings but noticed marks on the stub axle where the outer bearing runs. I went ahead anyway because we are booked in to camping and visiting friends. Sure enough, although the bearing is not as noisy, there is still a hum proportionate to road speed. The major suppliers don't seem to list stub axles, unlike MG suppliers who will sell you recon units. What are my options? Any thoughts..?
The marks on the stub will only cause noise if the bearing is spinning. Which it shouldn't. Or if the marks are so tall that they distort the bearing inner shell or tall scratches inside the hub distort the outer shell. I once gouged the hub while driving out the bearing shells and that caused a bearing to fail quickly as it made a high spot. On replacement I noticed the gouge and filed it so it wasn't proud of the metal and the replacement bearings then survived years until they got wet wading a flood after Dubfreeze.. I recently had an occasional bearing-like noise and I changed the wheel bearing but it turned out to be related to one of the following, being Obvious things I found when I looked for the cause.. 1. brake pads jamming in the caliper and uneven wear on the brake disc... replaced pads and disc. 2. A worn ball joint - replaced. 3 A worn tyre - replaced, Because after I changed the bearing the noise was still present. I think it was the wear on the ball joint letting the top of the tyre rub slightly more easily than usual on my lowered bus. In short- If the bearing is making a noise theres something wrong, if you drove any distance look to see if the grease has discoloured showing metal being worn off and if so you need to do it again with new bearings. Another way of killing the bearings is if you over tighten the clamp nut - should be finger tight, spin wheel, gently finger tightening as the bearings settle into place while the wheel spins then back off a fraction. I think the manual asks for a tiny clearance. The torque setting given is the locking socket head screw setting.
