Why no sealed L series/MY rear bearings?!

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 9:47 pm

G'day subi nuts.

After just replacing my rear bearings in november, then going 4wd'n with some creek crossings they're whining something chronic so I thought I'd replace them with a set of sealed bearings. Only problem is that you can't get them... Anyone know why? I think its a little odd that you can get a set of sealed bearings for the front but not the rear, or am I missing something here?

Anyone know if the front bearings fit the rear bearing hub and the rear stub axle? I'm hoping its just a case of spacers that will be needed but have a gut feeling that the front and rear bearings are different sizes and same with the stub axle - I'm yet to check this out.

I haven't had the front hubs apart yet (that'll be tomorrow night's activity if all goes well) but I'm under the impression that the front bearings are pressed in from each side with a spacer in between and a "step" inside the hub for the bearings to rest against, which is different to the rears that are pressed in from the diff side of the swing arm.

If anyone knows how to source a set of sealed rear bearings could you please let me know where from (Got anything for me here FROG?).

Otherwise my last option is to replace the bearings and add a set of breathers. Problem for me is this will equal too much time off the road as Ruby Scoo is my daily driver.

Cheers

Bennie

Post by **Alex** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 10:02 pm

they are readily available in wa Bennie. If you cant find any, i can get you some and send em over. Theyre very cheap too.

Fronts are totally different to the back. Youll need specific front bearings.

They are also very easy to remove.

Let me know if you want a detailed writeup on how to remove them. Or i can copy my gregorys manual for you.

cheers

alex

Subafury · Post by **Subafury** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 10:07 pm

i think you missed the point alex. sealed REAR bearings are not available and are about $70ish each. they are the conical shape/tapered bearings whereas the fronts are the cheap flat if ya like bearings.
trust me ive been thru a couple sets after installing the first ones wrong.

Matatak · Post by **Matatak** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 11:44 pm

you worry about little things to much Bennie.

seriously Sealed bearings are not a Huge saviour in water crossings.

and Matts right the rears are nothing like the fronts.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 5:45 pm

Thanks for your replies fellas. Alex, you got my hopes up for a minute there!

I've just come from the shed checking out the front and rear hubs - I've got a spare set to play with. And yes it has been physically confirmed on this end that both are comletely different in hub diametre and shaft diametre...

I'll shove the sealed units in the front and get them in the subi, then order in the rears when I can afford it. Think I'll have a go at making some hub breathers on the rear - I know one thing that may be the down fall - and make sure I don't pinch any of the seals -> I don't want to be doing this again, its frustrating when it doesn't work the first time!

I've got one front bearing that makes an interesting noise when cornering and the rear left is once again out performing my stereo in the loud noise department

And Matatak - you're correct. I just don't want to be doing my bearings every couple of outtings so I try to get the best seal for this sort of thing

Cheers

Bennie

Subafury · Post by **Subafury** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 11:07 am

yeh even the sealed ones dont last forever, i think mine are starting to get noisy again, about 2 years on.

also whats the benefits of these hub breathers?i cant work out in my head how you are going to seal off the bearings and then have a breather pipe. surely water will get in them somehow. pic/drawing required pls

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 5:21 pm

Subafury wrote:also whats the benefits of these hub breathers?i cant work out in my head how you are going to seal off the bearings and then have a breather pipe. surely water will get in them somehow. pic/drawing required pls

Yeah, I'm still yet to work this out exactly. I'm only doing this on the rears for now. Basically I need to drill a hole into the hub (including bearing's insert, this is the bit that could be the problem) in a place that it won't foul on the brakes or other suspension components.
Then I'm thinking of welding a bolt over the hole with a clean sealed weld - this will allow me to install a 90 degree bend that will be fitted with a piece of rubber that will follow the trans tunnel up into the engine bay where a breather filter will be fitted high up.
The idea behind this is that the hubs generally get water in them when crossing creeks - the hubs heat up, then once in the creek they cool down, sucking in a bit of water. The breather will be the easier line of resistance so only air with, theoretically, be sucked into the hub...
That's the thoughts behind this. Front hubs don't bother me as much (yet) as you can take the hub assembly out of the car easily without splitting the brake line, unlike the rear swing arm...

Cheers

Bennie

Busdriver · Post by **Busdriver** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 5:25 pm

Hey El Freddo, are you thinking of pressurising the hubs somehow? If so, what have you got in mind? Only thing I can think of that might help here otherwise is a drain type hose with a one way setup on it so it doesnt let water in, only out.

Just read your last post and I know what you mean now, but I think the cooling down process will be too quick (reminds me of old two stroke trail bikes before water cooling that have compression restored in creek crossings) and I think that pressurisation will work better. I mean if you want to go to the trouble of breathers, its only one more thing anyway, and this is what all the military vehicles use.

BBoypebs · Post by **BBoypebs** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 8:17 pm

The only problem with pressurising the bearings is that the seals and grease can been blown out.
Breather's should work fine because there is such a small volume of air with in the bearings. So there shouldn't be any problems with water been drawn in by rapid cooling.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 8:25 pm

Busdriver wrote:Hey El Freddo, are you thinking of pressurising the hubs somehow? If so, what have you got in mind? Only thing I can think of that might help here otherwise is a drain type hose with a one way setup on it so it doesnt let water in, only out.

Just read your last post and I know what you mean now, but I think the cooling down process will be too quick (reminds me of old two stroke trail bikes before water cooling that have compression restored in creek crossings) and I think that pressurisation will work better. I mean if you want to go to the trouble of breathers, its only one more thing anyway, and this is what all the military vehicles use.

Wow, hadn't thought of this - that'd add an extra 'protection' measure. I reckon the original idea would have done the job but I guess adding a bit of pressure while crossing creeks wouldn't be hard to do... What PSI do the military use?

I'd probabily add this system just before I go creek crossing again, there's not a lot of water around here at the moment and no real creek crossing that I know of in my area.

Cheers

Bennie

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 8:32 pm

BBoypebs wrote:Breather's should work fine because there is such a small volume of air with in the bearings. So there shouldn't be any problems with water been drawn in by rapid cooling.

That was my thinking too. I'll see how I go with making the breathers first and go from there. A tube of the right diametre should be fine with the amount of air that will be sucked through them...

Cheers

Bennie

Busdriver · Post by **Busdriver** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 8:42 pm

Its only a couple of PSI, not enough to blow the seals out anyway.
I will do some research tomorrow and let you know exactly, but L/R Unimog and Mack all do this as standard so it cant be a bad thing.

rob83ke70 · Post by **rob83ke70** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 7:55 pm

I've never ever had the rears out of my l series wagon. The fronts are non repackable (probably meant to be sealed) type, which didn't look really crash hot when i had them apart to do driveshafts. I put some grease in them before putting the driveshaft back in but i don't know if it did any good... I'm guessing my series look different to l series...

I will be replacing front wheel bearings sometime within the next week on the l series as i have to replace four drive shaft boots... i put two new driveshafts in, and one boot is split and the others look like they are about to. I need to make a phone call on monday and tell the bloke i bought them off that I want four new cv boots for my trouble free of charge!!

Are the rears in an L series the tapered adjustable type? My car has a horrible amount of road noise but no play in any wheel bearings, my tyres are all new too. I'm thinking it might be worth pulling the rears apart for a look..... or maybe replace them anyway, the car is 335k thousand km old....

Robert.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Sun Mar 08, 2009 3:10 pm

rob83ke70 wrote:The fronts are non repackable (probably meant to be sealed) type, which didn't look really crash hot when i had them apart to do driveshafts. I put some grease in them before putting the driveshaft back in but i don't know if it did any good... I'm guessing my series look different to l series...

If your fronts are non-backable bearings then they've been replaced with sealed units at some stage.
I believe the MY front bearings are the same item number as the L's.

rob83ke70 wrote:I will be replacing front wheel bearings sometime within the next week on the l series as i have to replace four drive shaft boots.

I've just replaced my front bearings in a second set of hubs yesterday, hopefully this week they'll make it onto Ruby Scoo. It was pretty easy, I used the old bearing to hammer (read "tap") the new bearings inplace, worked a treat!

rob83ke70 wrote:Are the rears in an L series the tapered adjustable type? My car has a horrible amount of road noise but no play in any wheel bearings, my tyres are all new too. I'm thinking it might be worth pulling the rears apart for a look..... or maybe replace them anyway, the car is 335k thousand km old....

I'm about to re-do my rears soon but will be playing with the hubs before they go in, again, I've got a second set so there will be minimal downtime on my subi. The rears are tapered, dunno about adjustable - the only adjustment you can do is on the castle nut - the one in the centre of the hubs with the split pin through the centre, and that adjustment is to go tighter...

Cheers

Bennie

Matatak · Post by **Matatak** » Sun Mar 08, 2009 3:44 pm

MY and L front bearings are the same numbers yes, but inner seal is different, so the same 'kits' wont work.

Sealed bearings are very repackable the seals simply flick out very easily. they also usually dont come iwth much grease so your better off flicking one side out and shoving more in there.

Rear bearings i beleive are adjusted by the castle nut, to loose and your drum will have play in it and the shoes may wear funny, to tight and they may lock up (although i havent played with any subaru rears for ages)

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Sun Mar 08, 2009 3:53 pm

Matatak wrote:Sealed bearings are very repackable the seals simply flick out very easily. they also usually dont come iwth much grease so your better off flicking one side out and shoving more in there.

Hmmm... Nice to know since I've just assembled the hub with new bearings and seals. If it comes to the point that I need to replace them I'll give that a go before the install.

Thanks for the info.

Bennie