SC Rear wheel bearings

BernieP · BernieP's Garage

Is there a way to check rear wheel bearings. I have a 1980 SC daily driver with 101,000 miles on it. It is making a noise that could be a bearing. Is there a way to check them?

Thanks

ianc · 04-07-2006, 08:13 PM

Jack up rear of car, grab wheels at 12 and 6 o'clock and pull\push top and bottom looking for excessive play. Cold, there should be a tiny amount.

What is the noise like and when does it happen?

ianc

island911 · 04-07-2006, 10:10 PM

they have to be really bad for slop to develop.

lifted, spinning the wheel, youu should be able to find the offending bearing -- maybe use a screwdriver up against the banana-arm (near the bearing) to listen fo r clicking.

ed martin · 04-07-2006, 11:25 PM

Over a period of probably four of five months I was plagued by a horrible clunking noise that seemed to be coming from the right rear. I did the obvious thing and jacked the rear up and tried to pull/push it at the 6 and 12 o'clock position. Nothing perceptable. I tried to spin it and listen for any bearing noise. Couldn't hear anything. I even tried to run the engine with the car jacked up to see if I could find the offending problem. I checked the e brake to make sure that wasn't chaffing, also checked the torsion bar to see if that was loose. Of course I concluded that the obvious solution had to be the CV joints. Ended up replacing some of those. Still had the problem. I was beginning to worry that the ring and pinion in the transmission was the culprit, or maybe just the throwout bearing, or the differential. What, after some months of trying to flgure this out and resigning to a worst case scenario, ring and pinion, I finally found the source of the problem. It was one of those eureka moments. I found out that by removing the wheel and removing the CV joint from the other side of the bearing, and having the bearing completely isolated, I was able to completely reproduce the offending sound by spinning the bearing by hand. If you don't find the problem there, since you have the transaxle partly removed (bottom end) now is a good time to remove the top end and inspect the CV joint surfaces for wear and replace or repack.

I mentioned this approach in another thread, "Clanking from right rear, what could it be" but I don't think anyone really caught on to what I was trying to say.