Wheel bearing noise and damage

2021-12-14 12:21:41 By : Mr. Leo Dai

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Brake & Front End responds to emerging trends in the field of chassis repairs by providing application-specific technical information and solutions, thereby providing services to repair shops that perform a large number of chassis repairs. By subscribing, you will receive the ShopOwner digital magazine (12 times a year), which contains articles from Brake & Front End and Brake & Front End e-newsletters (twice a week). Today is ready for you to access digital editions, competitions, news and more!

Brake & Front End responds to emerging trends in the field of chassis repairs by providing application-specific technical information and solutions, thereby providing services to repair shops that perform a large number of chassis repairs. By subscribing, you will receive the ShopOwner digital magazine (12 times a year), which contains articles from Brake & Front End and Brake & Front End e-newsletters (twice a week). Today is ready for you to access digital editions, competitions, news and more!

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If the impact is large enough, the preload on the bearing will change. In the long run, this will cause more damage and noise.

When the driver hits a pothole or a curb, great force is exerted on the balls or rollers and raceways of the bearing. This can result in very small marks on the surface. The driver may travel 1,000 miles or more before these components start to make noise.

This damage is called Brinell corrosion. Such surface failures/defects are caused by contact stresses that exceed the hardness limit of the material. Brinell marks may cause immediate noise from the bearing, and as the marks continue to rotate, the entire bearing may be damaged. If the impact is large enough, the preload on the bearing will change. As the debris enters the grease, this can cause more damage and noise. 

The wheel hub assembly is a modular, maintenance-free and non-repairable component. It is pre-set, pre-lubricated and pre-sealed, easy to install and improve product reliability to enhance performance. These wheels require no maintenance or disposal, preventive maintenance, lubrication and/or future adjustments.

The first step in testing bad bearings is audio inspection. The typical sound associated with poor bearings is frictional noise that changes with vehicle speed when accelerating over 30 mph. Rumble, growl, chirp, or any type of cyclic noise near the wheel is a good sign that the bearing needs to be checked immediately.

The most common method of testing wheel bearings is to lift the vehicle and grasp the wheel at 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock to feel for obvious play. By grabbing the wheels at these points, any play in the steering system can be eliminated. However, for some hub units, the fault tolerance may be so low that damaged bearings cannot be detected by this method. In these cases, the dial beating gauge may be your best friend. 

High-quality bearings are the key to performing work without rework. High-quality hub units or bearings usually use higher-quality materials and heat treatment processes to form a harder surface. Harder surfaces will not Brinell under severe impact. 

When replacing the hub unit, the replacement unit may feel stiff and difficult to turn. Do not return the bearing. Some hub units and sealed bearings are pre-filled with a special grease to prevent damage to the bearings during transportation. The grease is designed to have a high viscosity during transportation, so the balls or rollers will not damage the raceway surface. After the bearing is installed, some components in the grease are decomposed, allowing the bearing to rotate normally.

Due to corrosion, it may be very difficult to disassemble some hub units. This situation is more common in vehicles equipped with aluminum knuckles. In some cases, it may be necessary to use a puller to press the hub from the steering knuckle away from the vehicle.

After removing the old bearing, take some time to clean and inspect the bearing hole and shaft surface in contact with the bearing. Any debris or defects will prevent the bearing from being properly seated.

Use a cassette hole gauge to check the roundness of the hole. The gauge should be easy to rotate in the hole. Any deformation in the hole will cause the new bearing to fail prematurely. It also prevents the new bearing from being installed to the proper depth. 

Although it seems easier to use an impact wrench, it is not recommended. OEMs and bearing manufacturers always recommend using a torque wrench for installation. During the disassembly process, the impact wrench may damage the shaft nut threads and vibrate the CV joint. When adjusting nuts or bolts, it can also create a false sense of security. These nuts or bolts may have insufficient torque or excessive torque. This makes the hub assembly prone to failure. In addition, in almost all cases, you should use a new shaft nut. 

It is not uncommon to take out replacement wheel bearing hubs with a three-foot harness from the box. You may be tempted to splice the wiring harnesses together to avoid removing the fragile wheel well lining. However, no matter how much solder and heat shrink tubing you use, the connection will not be so good.

The wiring method of the wiring harness is the same as the original wiring method, which is very important. If the wiring harness is not wired correctly, it may be pinched between the brake and chassis components. Some new hub units include new clips and hardware.

On some vehicles, the wires tend to become brittle and break due to fatigue caused by road vibration and/or steering operations. For these situations, it is usually recommended to replace the wheel speed sensor (WSS) harness. 

Repairing the WSS harness is very difficult because the harness is exposed to water, heat, and flying debris. The voltage measured by the next-generation wheel speed sensor is very small, and wiring changes may cause problems. This may cause more ABS diagnostic codes to be set.

Some vehicles using sealed hub units are equipped with wheel speed sensors and voice coils between bearings or on internal seals. As the bearing wears or breaks, the air gap changes as the end gap increases. This change in the air gap can cause the wheel speed sensor code to be "unstable" or "weak".

If you have a scanning tool that can access the PID and data of the wheel speed sensor, you can observe the clearance in the bearing when the car turns and brakes. Compared with input from other wheels, the speed may drop sharply. If the ABS/ESC system detects this situation, it will disable the system and turn on the ABS light. If the vehicle exhibits these symptoms, replace the bearing or hub unit, even if it makes no noise or has no gaps.

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