Technical Wheel Bearings

[Mashy]

First post on here so still fiding my way around.
I have a 2006 Fiat Ducato 2.8JTD with motorhome coachbuilt body.
Although it has only covered 23,000 miles I believe I have a dodgy front wheel bearing. So questions please:-
Is this common at such low mileage?
Where is the best place to buy such a part?
Would it be only the bearing I would have to buy?
I have spoken to Ford & Slater in Peterborough and they want in the region of £90.00 inc VAT which seems an awful lot of money for a fairly small bearing.
Thank you for reading and hopefully replying.
Mashy

 

[John C S]

The bearings are quite a labour intensive job, as they can take a hell of a time to remove.

Very unusual to have them go a such a low mileage, mine were replaced 6 months ago at approx 136,000 miles.

There is a bottom suspension bush on the Ducato that can give the symptoms very similar to wheel bearings (IE, lots of play top to bottom): I can't imagine that would go after such a short mileage either, as I had that done about 3 months ago once my wheel bearings had been done!!

Parts are going to be from Fiat, possibly with a couple of day lead time, as most dealers don't stock a lot of commercial parts as they're quite robust and quite readily available centrally from Fiat UK

Worth checking though IMHO.

 

[symbolrate]

First post on here so still fiding my way around.
I have a 2006 Fiat Ducato 2.8JTD with motorhome coachbuilt body.
Although it has only covered 23,000 miles I believe I have a dodgy front wheel bearing. So questions please:-
Is this common at such low mileage?
Where is the best place to buy such a part?
Would it be only the bearing I would have to buy?
I have spoken to Ford & Slater in Peterborough and they want in the region of £90.00 inc VAT which seems an awful lot of money for a fairly small bearing.
Thank you for reading and hopefully replying.
Mashy

Hi , I am new here and have a similar problem with wheel bearings. Mine is a MH on 2004 Fiat Ducato 2.8JTD and the wheel bearings are whining at 18000 miles. Took it to North West Trucks in Liverpool who are also Fiat Commercial dealers. The quoted (at worst- if the hub needs to be replaced) a staggering £800 for the two front ones. They say they both need replacing although there is no play in any of them. Of course I took it to an independent garage who said he will do the job for £135 each.

North west Trucks said that it is not just the mileage but the age as well that does the damage. Apparently the seals deteriorate and grease seeps out presumably letting them run dry.

Would also appreciate any further comments on the subject.

Francis

 

[gwyntaxi]

9o quid sounds about right for a fiat wheel bearing i met someone last winter in morocco with failed bearing on a hymer after 18,000 miles one of
main causes is sleepy vehicle syndrome i.e. lack of use. does absolutely no
good leaving motorhomes parked up bearings rust due to damp& condensation then u drive it a few weeks later & rust & grease act like
grinding paste, nuf said.

 

[cris1117]

http://www.essexbearings.co.uk/transmission.php
This place is very competitive, not sure if they post

 

[twoatfa]

Hi all,

I have a 2003 Ducato 2.8 JTD attached to my Burstner motorhome.

Off side front wheel bearing went at around 20k miles. Looked on the net and it seems this is a frequent occurance.
I had huge problems to replace the bearing. Man with a very big press would not go over 30 tonnes (I think) for fear of shattering the housing. In the end had to replace the whole unit. However, noted that the new unit came with inner grease seal and outer grease cap. Original bearing had neither and, on inspection of the 'good' side noticed that there were no seals on this either. Bearing was bone dry !

I am wondering if this practice of not putting on grease seals is the cause for early bearing failure?

Anyone had a similar experience?

 

[PeterM]

Yes. Offside bearing went noisy at about 45,000 km and replaced. And again at about 58,000 km and replaced free of charge!

I saw the second one - it was dry, rusty. I was asked had I gone through water? Yes, wet roads. There is no grease cap on mine, and the inner seal is simply some kind of dust boot - very poor.

The bearing is actually a twin roller race in a massive cage. Really heavy duty, but seemingly cannot be regreased.

 

[davehuge]

Replacing Fiat Ducato Front Wheel Bearing.

I have a 2006 Burstner motorhome on a 2.8JTD Ducato.

Nearside front wheel bearing went noisy at 20,000 miles and was replaced under warranty, whilst travelling through Germany.

Offside front wheel bearing went noisy at about 30,000 miles. I decided to change it myself whilst here in France.

Bought the bearing online cost about £50, comes with circlip and nut.

I bought a 3/4" socket set (cost 40 euros).

Removed the knuckle and took it to an agricultural mechanics workshop (they normally repair large tractors). They had a large press and were able to press out the hub flange and then the bearing, it took alot of force to do this. They then pressed in the new bearing, fitted new circlip and pressed in hub flange. Charged me 30 euros.

Built it back up and all is well.

Something to note...

When removing the knuckle from the vehicle it's necessary to first remove the ABS wheel speed sensor. Mine was corroded in and I damaged it whilst getting it out.

I ordered one online and got a genuine Bosch replacement for £52 delivered. Got it from mister-auto.co.uk - I can highly recommend them.

By the way, a Fiat garage quoted me £262 to supply and fit the sensor!

 

[Ricard]

Pheweee, now I have the problem. 25.000 miles on 2004 JTD and the front off-side is making a noise diagnosed during an MOT but I had noticed a whining noise thinking it was the new tyres.

Just wondering if there is anything new on this subject, I have the Partco part number quoted in the thread, thank-you.

So the cost of this repair equals how long is a piece of string and I can't even expect my garage to give me a ball-park figure.

 

[Ricard]

Come on guys, help me please.

I'm looking at wheel bearing costs and they vary from £40 to just under £100 without any indication of difference specification and most claiming to be Fiat parts which is odd considering the life-expectancy of this particular Fiat part.

I'm thinking of having both sides done even though only one side is making a noise, what do you think ?

 

[Ricard]

The massive joke is that the Fiat bearing offered by Fiat dealers is £145 with 12 months warranty and an online source provides a Fiat branded bearing with a 12 month warranty for £40. In-between there are a variety of prices in roughly £20 steps.

Fag, SNR and SKF are all available at just over £100.

Why would I want to fit a Fiat branded bearing, is it because we can rely on Fiat to keep their eye on the ball and get up to speed when things go wrong ?

 

[Ricard]

Just had both front wheel bearings replaced, whilst one was rumbling and the other wasn't perfect neither had any sign of rust or lack of grease. In fact both bearings were SKF.

We're having a go at Fiat for this issue when it may well be either an SKF issue or just the fact that motorhomes are heavy on wheel bearings for whatever reason.

What do you think ?

 

[PeterM]

Hi Ricard
Did the new bearings come with grease points and/or dust seals?

 

[Ricard]

No, double sealed bearings should have the ideal amount of quality grease already installed for the expected lifetime of the bearing.

 

[moodrater]

We're having a go at Fiat for this issue when it may well be either an SKF issue or just the fact that motorhomes are heavy on wheel bearings for whatever reason.

When VOSA in the uk started monitoring motorhomes they found that 80% of them were overweight, the average van in the course of normal duties will rarely be loaded to capacity in terms of hours and even if it is it would usually be for short periods i.e. at the start of a delivery day. Not just the additional weight but the additional heat from breaking will reduce the effectiveness of the bearing grease. Also motorhomes tend to be idle for periods rust forming on the discs will add to friction and raise hub temperatures too.

Now that being said all bearings are designed to a budget and a life expectancy if they wanted them to last a millions miles they could make them like that but they'd make no money. The japanese learned that by the late 90s.

 

[Ricard]

When VOSA in the Ku started monitoring motorhomes they found that 80% of them were overweight,

That is what I suspected, when I first bought our motorhome i'm reading threads where owners always have their van "ready to go" at a moments notice and advocating that a fully loaded van doesn't use any more fuel than an empty van.

I bought our van with 12.000 miles on the clock so maybe the damage had already been done. In my case I always empty my van of most paraphernalia because I use it for days out and as a changing room/cafe for when I go to the beach which is a 30 miles roundtrip. I even remove the spare wheel now my tyres are filled with slime.

 

[MadMan0]

Slightly off form the OP,
Which grease should be used for the wheel bearings?

"bearing Grease" is not helpful

 

[Ricard]

Slightly off form the OP,
Which grease should be used for the wheel bearings?

Just to re-iterate that you can't grease sealed bearings, if they aren't sealed they wouldn't or shouldn't be used on wheel applications.

The special grease I was talking about was originally designed to deal with lock gates then moved-on for wheel bearing duty though I don't know if it would be suited to the duty-cycle of a medium-heavy vehicle. What I do know is than when I used this grease (Black Gold) it never-ever broke down or let water in. Black Gold sticks like no other grease and stays put. I don't think you can get Black Gold any longer and just to prove how good it is I still have most of my original tub left because once you used it in a bearing the bearing just never broke down.

It was used in the marine industry mainly and adopted by off-road cyclists which was the case with me.

You need to do an internet search, maybe start with Black Gold, it is expensive though. A tub with 500ml was over £40 15 years ago.

 

[moodrater]

Sounds like the military stuff my dad has for his own vehicles - its his closest guarded possession you can borrow his tools but don't touch the grease I'm sure its highly toxic or some such as you can't get anything like it anymore.

 

[Ricard]

Black Gold had other names and designations but it was all secret-squirrel, I think you can get something similar but you'll need to identify it.

This is how good it is, I live with the sea around me on three sides within a couple of miles. My anemometer used to pack up every year because the grease in the simple bearing just broke down. eight years ago I stripped it and filled the bearing with Black Gold, it's never faltered since and just keeps whizzing round when the wind blows.

I'll have to put the remainder of the tub in will to someone because i'll never get to use it all up.

One warning, don't believe the claims made on the tin or tube unless you know you can get your money back. I used some really expensive grease preparations, most bought in from the USA, all bull****.They all broke down or didn't stay the course.

Black Gold.