Now then... I changed my complete n/s driveshaft a few months ago .. and then about 2 or 3 months later the wheel bearing starts to whine.

To be fair, the beast had 183,000 miles on it and 15 years old out-of-the-factory spec'... so I swapped it. Sure enough it was dry and worn out like a worn out and dry 183,000 mile bearing.

I torqued the beast up to the factory spec' - 70Nm and approx. 60 degrees (bloody tight, basically) and it was fine for a while. I even did the other side as a precaution, although that job turned into a bit of a bitch fight... but crucially/maybe at the time, when I did up the hub nut bloody tight, I didn't knock in a stake on the new hub nut since I had no idea how the style of hub nut that came with the bearing worked.

Any road up, the other day it was a bit loose.. some clonking and the disc pads were getting knocked off the disc... usual stuff. I drove home gingerly a mile and tightened the beast up again (and put a stake in the nut this time).

But the bearing is making a noise worse, if not almost as bad as when it was knackered, so what's all that about?

I'm thinking one of two things has happened:

1) The loose nut has led to the bearing being damaged.. but logically how is this possible? Driveshaft fits in the flange and the flange sits in the bearing. If the drivehaft is loose (i.e. loose hub nut) then it will move in and out of the flange. The bearing won't be affected since the flange is not moving relative to the bearing.

2) The bearing (new, fitted by a mechanic using a press while I watched) has collapsed slightly and that has made the nut loose, rather than the nut working loose on its own. It's the n/s hub so it has less tendency to unscrew itself normally.

I dunno what brand the bearing was but it was a £40 job from a local motor factor so it's not the most cheapest bearing out there/liable to be ****e..?

So what happened? Did I do it up too tight.. not enough... or was the loose nut the cause of the damage?

Otherwise (off-piste) could the new driveshaft/CV be knackering the bearings somehow?


I'm puzzled.


Ralf S.

The loose nut caused loosening of bearing preload and now the bearing is damaged. When tightening the nut you bassicaly make a bearing sandwich between the axleshaft and the nut on it , when you make it loose you get a loose inner of outer bearing race and the noice cause it shifts in bearing race from downward and other forces that affects him . You will need a new bearing now

Yes.. I was thinking about it some more. Without the driveshaft/CV pressing on the other side of the bearing, it's possible that the ball bearings on that side could have been pushed out of position slightly, and maybe distorted the plastic cage they are suspended on.

Someone else has suggested tightening the bearing as tight as I can possibly get it and then loosen it off and tighten it back to the correct torque (as if to try to squeeze everything back together again... ) but even though it sounds logical I don't think it will fix the bearing if the plastic cage has become damaged, for example.

Anyways I have ordered a new bearing, and also a new flange for good measure.

I have to say I'm rather expert at changing wheel bearings now.. so unless I have any other brilliant idea in the meantime, I'll replace it.


Ralf S.