repeated rear wheel bearing fail..any ideas?

[steveo3002]

our mk1 focus had some new drums with ready fitted bearings a while back , 18 months 15k miles or so and they failed the mot

i figured ebay rubbish and got some FAG branded ones , pulled in carefully with a old race against the outer with a threaded bar , and now less than 6 months and a few thousand miles and theyre sloppy again

any ideas or tricks to doing these? ive done several bearings on other cars witn no issues and feel ive done these by the book too

 

[landyman1]

as an ex ford dealer tech i have done loads,usual causes are damaged dust cap allowing water in. always use a new one,definitely use a good quality one i have also had failures from cheap factor parts.hope this helps

 

[steveo3002]

was new cap and good quality brand

guess i will soon see if its rusted when i take it apart

edit...its not noisey just sloppy

 

[brightspark]

was new cap and good quality brand

guess i will soon see if its rusted when i take it apart

edit...its not noisey just sloppy

if its sloppy in the ball race and not rusted its the quality of the bearings

 

[Richiew]

I think its a common thing with the Mk1 Focus. My previous car used to fail most years for it. Peed me off a bit as the garage would replace the bearing but the parts and hourly labour rate was more than the cost of buying a new set of drums with new bearings already fitted. I bought myself a 20 tonne hydraulic press after the second annual bill but got a bit lazy and just fitted fresh drums, they were cheap enough.

My Mk2 doesn't seem to suffer like the old Mk1.

 

[pedrobedro]

Not a focus but a Corsa. Changed the bearing 3 times in a couple of years then replaced the stub axle and it never went again.

 

[doubleboost]

Some of the after market bearings are very poor quality
£ 6 for a bearing kit with cir clip and dust cap means you are waisting your time
Even some of the big name brands are being counterfited

 

[rikrobson]

is the nut tight? its about 270 Nm torque

 

[steveo3002]

was tight when i fitted it put it that way

will pop the caps off later and see whats what

 

[the snooper]

As Roche says above its a common thing on the mk 1 focus I've done loads of them might be worth trying one from Ford as the after market bearings don't last

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Daft question.
But I will ask anyway.
Are you replacing both bearings and the bearing caps?

The reason I ask is simply because the young lad down the road had the same issue. Repeat failing of the wheel bearings.
The last time the dad asked my "What do I do with the metal cap thing, is it there to keep the bearing greased up in transit?
Turns out they just replaced the bearing, he now knows how do it correctly.

 

[Sean]

Also bearings dont always come propery greased, just enough to stop them going rusty in the shiping container.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Also bearings dont always come propery greased, just enough to stop them going rusty in the shiping container.

Isn't that the truth.

The stand at the car boot what does caravan spares, all their bearings are lightly oiled. They will sell you a small packet of "Special wheel bearing grease" for £8.
Or walk 5 paces and buy a 1kg tub of the same grease for £5.

 

[steveo3002]

Daft question.
But I will ask anyway.
Are you replacing both bearings and the bearing caps?

The reason I ask is simply because the young lad down the road had the same issue. Repeat failing of the wheel bearings.
The last time the dad asked my "What do I do with the metal cap thing, is it there to keep the bearing greased up in transit?
Turns out they just replaced the bearing, he now knows how do it correctly.

its comes as one lump...like most front bearings and sealed , did cross my mind to pop the seals out and force grease in, but i thought fag was a trusty brand

 

[steveo3002]

any of the experts confirm the tightening method ?

no backing off or run it up the road and check again etc? seems rather tight

 

[pondy]

any of the experts confirm the tightening method ?

no backing off or run it up the road and check again etc? seems rather tight

manual states 235nm,

 

[8ob]

Have to agree with @Sean and @The_Yellow_Ardvark , there is next to no grease in pre greased/sealed bearings. One of my machines was running the bearings out on a regular basis so I popped a seal on one of the new ones to have a look.

This is a big bearing running on 2" shaft on a chipper.

Old bearings as they came out, no grease in sight



New ones, not enough in my opinion.




So I pulled both inner seals and drilled/tapped the center of the bearing hub to take a grease nipple, gets greased until you can just see a weep of grease coming out of the outer seals. Blanking plug goes in the hole when in use, strange how they have outlasted the original setup tenfold and are still good.

 

[doubleboost]

any of the experts confirm the tightening method ?

no backing off or run it up the road and check again etc? seems rather tight

The bearing retaining nut is FT as the inner races lock on to each other (no adjustment)
180 ft lb is what i use

 

[gordon stephenson]

Bearing quality and lack of grease, very likely, Trouble is these days you can't be sure that you are getting an item from a respected manufacturer, So many fake products, even in packaging identical to the original.

 

[steveo3002]

The bearing retaining nut is FT as the inner races lock on to each other (no adjustment)
180 ft lb is what i use

no fear of going a bit over the top then ? might give next ones an extra heave