930 front hub conundrum

[somoney311]

Gents,

Been a lurker for some time but I never did any real projects with my car....until now.

I guess a little back story to set the mood. Grab a beer and have a seat because this is kinda funny...

Last month I get the distinct pleasure of moving from South Carolina to California and I though "hey its a good trip for the Porsche". So I take a gander at the car and decide I need new tires since its a long trip (heading up to NJ to see family first) and I don't want any issues with the car. I take the car to my mech and tell him I'd like some new tires and install a bump steer kit and that I was going on a very long drive. We agreed to look over the car to identify any issues that may come up. I asked him to take a look at my right front suspension sis it seemed a little lower than the left.

That evening he calls me with the bad news. The strut went bad. The only thing they have in stock is a set of RSR's with 19mm raised spindles. I'm thinking this is great! I wanted to toy with the idea of coil overs and this helps get me there. So I spurge on them and he installs them over the weekend.

That following week I drive the car to NJ. No issues getting up there and no issues with the few times I drove it in SC. The car is driving well with the bump steer kit.

On my way to Cali I go! Headed towards Nashville for the night. Great place to stop if you ever get the chance. I was driving South on I-81 in the left lane on a newly paved section south of Roanoke VA. All of a sudden I feel a "pop". Kind of like a blown tire but not as loud. So I pull off the side of the road to check it out. As I'm on the way over there I start to think this doesn't feel like a blown tire. I get out of the car and this is what I see.


The front tire is very close to resting on the inside of the fender. I'm thinking *****, I just replaced that strut. I call my Mech and he thinks it may be the torsion bar.

Well he may be right (I have not been able to pull out the torsion bar) but I found this instead




That is what I saw when I took off the front hub.
After cleaning it up a little this is what I have.





There were huge chunks of metal all in the packing grease.

Now the questions.

What failed?
What could have caused this?
Is this due to a bad installation?
are the marks on the spindle a no go?
How do I get the bearing that has the arrow pointing to it off? I have tried to use a slide hammer with a bearing claw attached.

Here is another picture of the bottom of that bearing. There looks to be a grey film or something that looks like overheating indications???



Now I will need to research what parts to get and look up old post on how to do this removal and installation of the bearings.

At least I got a new car out of it..I had to get a car in Roanoke and keep driving across the country.

[lightbulb8817]

spindle nut installed too tightly?

[Sboxin]

Well . . .

It looks to me like a simple small bearing failure . . .
Why = Mech may have used old bearing when they replaced the strut - and it just failed (?)
(or spindle nut too tight . . . )

I would replace the bearings and see what happens . . .

Very nice 930

Regards,

[LOWFAT]

Do you have anymore pictures of those wheels? They look interesting , I like that gold with the grey.

[turbo owner]

Replace both bearings and move on

[Craig_D]

I would also guess that the spindle nut was overtightened and caused undue stress on the bearings, causing bearing failure. New bearings and making sure that you don't overtighten that spindle nut, would be the fix.

Here's the spindle nut on a 911 SC:

[Catorce]

Not the end of the world, simple outer bearing failure. As others have said, replace both, make sure spindle nut is loose enough per factory specs, and drive on.

[somoney311]

Thanks guys. Now I’m going to continue to try and get the outer bearing off. It’s being a bugger. Thanks for the tip on the spindle nut, it did take a little effort to get off.


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[somoney311]

Any tips or tricks to try and get that outer bearing off??


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[Catorce]

3 jaw puller would work good.

[dobryan]

You might want to check the tightness of the spindle nut on the other side too.....

[somoney311]

Yeah I think I’m going to do the bearing on both sides....just to be safe.


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[somoney311]

Well I got the inner race and bearing off. The outer just won’t move. This is my contraption to try and get it off. And additional ideas or tips?
I’m thinking of getting the impact gun out. *


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[Catorce]

If that doesn't work, take a die grinder with a cutting wheel and cut the race almost down to the hub. Then, position a chisel on the cut groove and hit with a 5 pound sledge. Race is VERy brittle and will crack off.

That's also how you will need to remove the inner race, BTW.

[somoney311]

Ok, it’s off! Does this look like the spindle is ok? Seems like the bearing fuzed to it.



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[Catorce]

You won't really know until you get the old race fully off. Try chiseling it off or very light sanding with a die grinder until you're a C-hair from the spindle itself, then scrape off / sand off until you hit good metal.

[Craig_D]

Yep, looks like that spindle nut was too tight and spun on the spindle. Bummer...it's a small detail that caused a lot of headache.

[MBruns]

I noticed the inner spacer/grease seal ring appears to be missing, did you remove it ?
Mike Bruns

[john walker's workshop]

That spindle/strut is toast unfortunately, due to the outer bearing race chewing it up. Yeah, where's the inner seal ring?

[HaroldMHedge]

No one has mentioned it yet but have you checked the other side? It might have been tightened too much as well.