TimV SR

After a lot lot of work, I had my '85 very tight even on uneven pavement. Lately, it seems to have developed a tendency to wander. It feel like the rear end is not tight. The only thing I can find wrong is a small amount of play in one rear wheel bearing. The other 3 wheels are tight.

Anyone notice how loose a rear bearing can get before you feel anything while driving?


The car may be due for an alignment.

RandyJ75

If you have a loose wheel bearing, they won't be able to do an alignment. Replace the rear wheel bearings and the U joints if they have not been done lately.

Randy

Aardwolf

Also make sure the spindle nut is tight, I have found mine loosened!

TimV SR

I will check the spindle nut. Thanks for the tip

I replaced both rear bearings and all 6 u-joints a couple of years back.
(Also did poly bushings, ball joints, tie rod ends, rack and pinion, new tires, and added a Camber Brace.)
They can't have more than 7,000 or 8,000 miles on them. 1 is tight, but the other has just a slight amount of movement. If the spindle nut is tight, I may change both again using better bearings.

TimV SR

To follow up for the archives:

I finally got the time to work on this more and thought I would post the results.

I had what felt like a slightly loose rear end. The car seem to wander on uneven roads. It didn't feel like the front was pulling, more like a fork truck feels with the rear wheel steering. I had one rear wheel bearing with a little play, the other was tight. Spindle nuts were tight. I ordered two of the HP bearings (tapered) from eBay and replaced both of my existing ones.

I had one bad wheel bearing when I got the car in 6 years ago, but don't remember having this problem. Maybe with the other work to the suspension (see previous post) tightened things up enough to make this noticeable.
After a 20 mile trip on those same roads, the problem seems to have gone away.

The car feels tight again.

I bought a set of cheap bearings (US made?) a couple of years ago. But one only lasted about 7,000 miles. Hopefully the tapered ones will hold up better.

dchildress

Seems to be a lot of postings on wheel bearings this week. I had a couple getting loose and decided to replace them all. I bought a set of wheel bearings on Ebay about 3 years ago from two different people. After one trip to Deal's Gap (www.tailofthedragon.com) which is about a 600 mile trip for me, one of the front and one of the rear bearings were shot. I sent the front one back to the guy and he said it was "within spec" but sent a new one. The rear was totally gone and that supplier also sent a new one. The rear is just now starting to feel loose again, maybe 5000 miles later. The new front one lasted about 300 miles. I ended up putting the stock on back on. All that said, I am in the market for 4 new bearings again.

To answer the first question, I would say yes. I know I can.