Citroen Xsara Picasso axle bearings

[SuperKingCheese]

My old Picasso has a negative camber problem, rear wheels are rubbing against the wheel arches supposedly caused by collapsed axle bearings and I was told to replace the rear axle beam. I decided to remove the axle and strip it down to see if I could refurb the axle rather than replace it and I found the bearing were not collapsed and didn't even have rust on them, they still had grease and didn't look in that bad condition to me but I'm not a mechanic. One of the bearings fell to pieces when I removed the trailing arm so I didn't get chance to see it when it was intact but the other looks good considering it's 20 years old. The axle shaft looks good, no rust and still perfectly round. A few marks where I hit it with a sledge hammer.

Just wondering if the problem is definitely axle bearings or could it be something else?

[CitroJim]

Those bearings look, prima-facie, to be good - usually, they suffer water ingress, the grease disappears, they rust and the shafts pit and wear and the bearing housings go oval - they can even seize up.

Having said that, the fact they look OK does not necessarily mean there's not excessive wear. Before you dismantled it all, did you check the trailing arms for excess play?

Also, the problem could be caused by badly worn wheel bearings, stub axles or worn hubs due to the wheel bearing having failed and seized...

Are both sides equally affected?

[SuperKingCheese]

Those bearings look, prima-facie, to be good - usually, they suffer water ingress, the grease disappears, they rust and the shafts pit and wear and the bearing housings go oval - they can even seize up.

Having said that, the fact they look OK does not necessarily mean there's not excessive wear. Before you dismantled it all, did you check the trailing arms for excess play?

Also, the problem could be caused by badly worn wheel bearings, stub axles or worn hubs due to the wheel bearing having failed and seized...

Are both sides equally affected?

Thanks for the info, I did check the arms for play and didn't see or feel any. Before I took the axle off the car both sides were affected by negative camber, drivers side was worse than the passenger side, the drivers side is what you are seeing in the photos, I haven't got the passenger side trailing arm off yet as one of the torsion bars is being a bit stubborn.

The only thing I see is the minor pitting inside the trailing arm but I can't imagine that's enough to cause the wheels to collapse inwards at the top.

[SuperKingCheese]

So I managed to get the passenger side off today and the bearings were totally destroyed, dry, rusty and collapsed but that was the side where the camber wasn't too bad so I'm a bit surprised. Axle shaft and bearing housing on the trailing arm look good, no pitting and appear to be perfectly round so I'm guessing I can just put some new bearings on this axle now and get it back on the car.

[CitroJim]

If there's any signs of pitting on the shafts or any ovality in the bearing housings, any new bearings will have a very short life...

Best off getting a recon. axle...

This was always a common problem on many 90s Peugeots... Reconditioned axles were never too hideously expensive and remain, as far as I know, readily available...