356 help - front wheel bearing

[Atlantic07]

Hi everyone,

I think my bearing went bad - left front hub got smoking hot on my last drive (hotter than the other hubs) and breaks seem okay.

I took the hub of and the outer bearing seems well intact.
Here is my question:

The access to the inner bearing is blocked by the seal(s?). To really check it, I might have to break the seal. I'd like to avoid it if not necessary (meaning if the BR is okay). It is hard from outside to see the condition of the bearing (see first pic).
However, the bearing is completely lose in the housing. Shouldn't it be tight - is that the indication, that it is bad? To me this also indicates that it would not fit properly on the "axle". On the other hand, the bearing seems somewhat intact and not fully disintegrated - so why would it be so lose?

The area where the inner BR goes on the "axle" also seems to have groves (see second pic).

I am even a little bit suspicious that someone just did a bad job here at some point. Maybe the BR was wrong, maybe some part is missing.

What am I making out of this?

Any help/tip is welcome. Thank you!

[BertBeagle]

The only checks you can do without disassembling the hub is by grabbing the top and bottom (12 o'clock and 6 o'clock) of the tire, with the wheel on the car and off the ground, to see if there is play in the bearings. And you can rotate the wheel to see if you feel any roughness.

If you want to inspect the bearing you cannot do this until you remove it and clean it. You will need to get a new seal, remove the bearing and clean it. Also clean the grease off the spindle and inspect it.

[C. Clark]

Generally if it's loose and rattling around as described it's bad, new bearing, race and seal. It might be wise to do both.
Chas.
356
912
911

[Atlantic07]

Oh bay ... new twist to the problem.

See my second thread:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?t=394431

Thx everyone!