Things I killed at the track #47: Z32 rear wheel bearings

[Def]

So I guess the 3 DEs I had in a row with no issues were just too much.

I noticed the car being a little more tail happy into right hand corners(which actually helped out one slow corner on track), and a little more skittish mid-late corner. I checked things, front wheel bearings(GTO 5 lug hubs, ~10k street miles, ~2.5k track miles) were perfect. Rear right OEM wheel bearing(unknown mileage - junkyard said 75k miles - and 2.5k track miles) had about 3/16" of play at the wheel... not good. Rear left Timken bearing (~500-1k street miles, 1.5k track miles) was toast. An easy 5/16" of play at the tire. It was a huge amount of clunking movement.... uhhh... not good.

I verified the upright is staying 100% stationary(finger on both camber arm and RLCA also touching the upright while someone moves the wheel/rotor back and forth. I also noticed some pad knockback on the rear, which points to hub play.

Hub bolts were torqued to spec when I was in there when the Timken bearing was put in(OEM bearing on that side died, figured it was just random part failure and replaced it without worry). Now I'm really starting to wonder WTF is going on. The OEM bearing with lots of wear, I can see that developing some play, but the Timken bearing basically ****ting the bed is not comforting. I'm wondering if they're tossing Chinese bearings in there, but I do seem to recall "Made In Japan" on the bearing race... but it might have been BS or I could be remembering wrong(it was last year when I did the S14 rear subframe).

So my question is... why in the world are these things wearing out so much?

Think I will have better luck with the SKF brand? I am mainly worried about cheap Chinese bearings(what I think the Timkens were).

[Your Mom]

Ron was having issues with his for awhile, he kept spares it was so bad. I still have oem and no issues so really think we just need to buy used oem ones or pay more for a better bearing, what else could it be.

[Def]

It seems OEM is either SKF or NTN(and $260/side). So I'm guessing I'm just going to go with a $140/side SKF bearing and see what happens.

As far as I can tell, nothing nicer or more "race oriented" out there.

My Z32 buddy didn't know of any issues Z32s have had with track usage. I can't imagine a 3600+ lb car can get around on the same bearing without even more trouble than the average 2400-2700 lb S chassis.

[Equinox]

I've had my left rear wheel bearing develop significant play on two occasions. Both times the nut had undone itself slightly despite being torqued to specification. Re-torquing the hub nut fixed the play and the bearing exhibited no strange noises, runout or excessive breakaway torque.

Last time I did it I overtorqued it slightly and it seems to be holding up.

Are the bearings actually shot or is there just play in them? Maybe they've just loosened up like mine did.

[Dark horse]

Would lubricating the bearings with better grease help?

[KA240SX808]

I'd say so:

http://www.motoiq.com/MagazineArticles/tabid/59/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/893/Project-Silvia-The-Official-Guide-to-Not-Screwing-Up-Your-Wheel-Bearings-Like-I-Did.aspx

[Bumnah]

KA240sx808 beat me to the link. But yeah, that's what I'd do too.

[Def]

The rear bearings have two metal shields, not sure how that'd work.

The axle nut was beyond finger tight, but I'll take the cotter pin off and check it. Bolts on the rear of the upright seemed fine.

[Jason M]

Take a close look at the hub. Make sure the inner race has not spun.

[marcinko]

That link is just for the fronts... I did that to my front bearings but used Amsoil Racing 2000 grease. It was not as easy as the write-up makes it seem.

I'm not sure you can do that to the rears...
I've heard some people say you can press the rear hub apart and press a new bearing but I've heard other people say it will destroy the hub.

How many rear bearings have you been through? If this is the first pair I'd just get another set of good used hubs and swap them out...

[Def]

Killed one, swapped in the Timken. Now both the Timken and other OEM one are dead.

[Tower240sx]

Def,

did you change the inner race on the outside bearing? (the one that seats on the back face of the hub)

I noticed last night, while diagnosing a failure on Manonegra's street car, that that race isn't integral but may be near impossible to remove without a very well suited puller,

[Black R]

So torque to s14 spec is project silvia's answer?

Guess I'll recheck my fronts.

That doesn't help Def's rear issues tho...

[Matt93SE]

Def,

did you change the inner race on the outside bearing? (the one that seats on the back face of the hub)

I noticed last night, while diagnosing a failure on Manonegra's street car, that that race isn't integral but may be near impossible to remove without a very well suited puller,

I don't know about these hubs, but the ones on the Maxima are the same way. they're a MOTHA to remove, but must be done. usually for me it involves a grinding wheel and die grinder to cut some notches into the surface, then grab those with a 2 or 3 jaw puller and go to town. judicious amounts of heat from a propane torch help too.

As well, when the bearings on those go bad, they usually destroy the hub with it since the inner bearing race spins relative to the hub and ruins the press fit surface. it must then either be machined down and a ring pressed in place, or replaced. for most people it's cheaper to replace the hub (at $130 from Nissan) than it is for the precision machine work to repair it.
If you don't get that sleeve perfectly straight, the new bearing wobbles and self-destructs in short time.

Soooo, I've always made it a rule when changing wheel bearings on a Maxima to just replace the hub at the same time. it goes from $45 to $175 for the job, but it's the only way to make it last.

[Def]

Def,

did you change the inner race on the outside bearing? (the one that seats on the back face of the hub)

I noticed last night, while diagnosing a failure on Manonegra's street car, that that race isn't integral but may be near impossible to remove without a very well suited puller,

Wait... what?

The bearing that comes in the hub had all the races it'd need. The hub looks like it just presses out/into that.