Near side wheel bearing keeps failing

ActivaV6uk · Post by **ActivaV6uk** » 04 Jul 2005, 13:21

Hi, I just thought I would read some of the forum befor my driving test...
There are 2 differnt hub setups for the xantia, one is for all the cars with the low torque engines one is for the heigh torque engines yours being a CT (2L turbo) is a high torque setup which is the same on only the 110bhp HDi the 2.1 TD the V6 and the CT the breaings are the same but the wheel hubs are diferent (I think its down to an offset diference).
Do not just go and get any front hub you can use one off the cars listed above, I believe that ware the bearing fits is damaged and that in turn will twist the bearing when it is fitted as its been said probably from a frontal accsedent.
There are some links to breakers on www.activanet.co.uk (main website under links) it may be worth trying one of them Jon in the past has given me names and numbers too which have been very usefull I can try and dig them out.
Best wishes.
Andy

sooty · Post by **sooty** » 04 Jul 2005, 16:47

Whats the point in getting a hub, as you remove the hub most of the time the bearings fall out. Unless you mean getting a suspension strut complete with the hub.
I recently fitted new bearings to both sides of my ZX td in trying to trace a noisey bearing. But the first one I replaced started to fail in about three weeks, I think I may have mixed the two inner tracks back to front while fitting the outer track into the strut.
As most of us don't have access to the pullers and presses as stated in the Haynes manual. We knock these bearings into place with brass driffs, so as the inner bearings keep falling out while knocking the outer track into place. This is where the mix up can happen and ensure they are not mixed and kept clean from swarf or grit.

ActivaV6uk · Post by **ActivaV6uk** » 04 Jul 2005, 21:43

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by sooty</i>

Whats the point in getting a hub, as you remove the hub most of the time the bearings fall out. Unless you mean getting a suspension strut complete with the hub.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Sorry I may be being dence here but out of the 15-20 cars I've broken this has never happend to me? is there something i should know?
Andy

bxbodger · Post by **bxbodger** » 04 Jul 2005, 21:51

Oh, if only they WOULD just fall out!!!!
I think there must be some confusion here- to me the hub is the bit that the bearing is pressed into, a.k.a. the bearing carrier, but it may mean something different to others.

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 04 Jul 2005, 22:50

I thought the hub was the bit that the wheel bolts to, i.e. the spinny bit with the flange on it. The hub carrier / bearing carrier is the bit that the strut, track rod end and ball joint are bolted to, isn't it?

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 04 Jul 2005, 23:34

if your inner race/s fall out when fitting new bearings you must make sure when putting back in that the edge of the seal is placed back under edge of inner race,otherwise the seal willnot be doing its job,i just press outer in with a large vice then start lockating drive flandge into inner race of out side bearing dont let the weight of it pull inner race back out,then before flandge centre meets inner race of inner bearing i fit my home made puller,which is just a length of threaded stud with very thick washers and nuts on each end,then you can wind flandge into both inner races without dislodging them sorted regards malcolm

basil40 · Post by **basil40** » 05 Jul 2005, 17:53

Thanks for all these replies. Yesterday I took the car into the Cit repairer - told me that it was lethal to drive. Explained that next course of action was to replace the drive flange - that's the only thing left to replace by the way! No explanation has ever been given to me about bearing failure mode, but from the noise it sounds like a the race has completely broken down.
The hub is a cast, cast iron part into which the bearing is located and secured - and as such wouldn't normally suffer plastic deformation - it just brittle fractures (at enormous loads unless faulty. There is an Activa specific bearing specification.
But the fact that main dealers can't fix the problem is a concern. I'm an engineer myself and would like to get the current hub measured against a new one on the CMM.
Will keep you posted.

aengus · Post by **aengus** » 05 Jul 2005, 19:13

Know this may sound silly - but have you checked that the wheels are properly balanced and true?
If not, there will be much more load on the bearings and hence a more rapid failure rate.

basil40 · Post by **basil40** » 05 Jul 2005, 20:24

aengus, the wheel bearings are designed to last the lifetime of the car. The design verification work that goes into confirming this is quite extensive and costly. IF the bearing, which is a serious safety critical component fails due to a wheel being out of balance then we've got one hell of an unsafe car! The design load tolerances will be far in excess of those created by wheel balance issues, beside I don't think the vibration frequency from that can shake the bearing loose, there's not much load being transfered to the wheel bearing from wheel being out of balance.

ActivaV6uk · Post by **ActivaV6uk** » 05 Jul 2005, 20:32

There is an Activa specific bearing specification.
Nope there isnt i have access to the citroen parts database the part fits all the V6/CT/2.1TD and HDi110 cars.

basil40 · Post by **basil40** » 06 Jul 2005, 02:17

That must be more bull from the dealer. ~I got the car back and although it's running ~I can hear noises coming from the hub. Definitely a component to this noise is due to brake rub on the warped disc. I will replace these in due course with Brembos/Ferrod pads combo. However, Cit merchant is harping on about binding caliper - that sounds suspicious to me too - perhaps they are bleeding me bit by bit - pehaps I should buy a new hub and have done with it. Then I know it's ok.

basil40 · Post by **basil40** » 06 Jul 2005, 02:19

ActivaV6uk - what's the part number for the cast iron casting and wheel bearing assy?

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 06 Jul 2005, 02:26

well basil i did mention binding caliper earlyer,this can also cause warpd brake discs regards malcolm

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 06 Jul 2005, 02:38

Basil - as you rightly say these are precision bits and are thoroughlytested by the manufacturers. In fact the bearings are extremely well made components and with luck should last the lifetime of the car - so we are not dealing with rubbish components or for that matter something that is easily damaged by accident.
What can go wrong? If its like the BX one its a double race ball bearing with what looks like a split inner bearing surface. The calssic is that the original bearing siezed and the outer ring (generally) turned in the hub. If you were fitting it you would become suspicious as even if the tell tale marks weren't seen the new bearing would fit far too easily, and probably drop out again. If you were a bodger you would punch the hub surface to get a tight fit but that probably wouldn't last long but probably long enough to get the thing off your forecourt!
What I' m trying to say is that there isn't really a great deal to go wrong that isn't readily apparent on examination without special tools and so I'd belooking for trouble elsewhere.
Jeremy

madasafish · Post by **madasafish** » 06 Jul 2005, 13:24

caliper dragging = brakes semi permanently on = heat build up = grease melts in bearing = bearing failure.
Is my suggestion.
Should be obvious to any half competent mechanic.. so either I'm wrong or the people you have used...