Brand new wheel bearings - hot after 8 miles at 60mph

I just had all four wheels bearings (8 bearings in total, of course) replaced with brand new Timken bearings by the local indy Land Rover garage.

After picking up the vehicle, I drove 8 miles home at around 60mph.

When I got home, I held my hand against the cover that goes on the end of the axle, and it was about as hot as my hand could cope with. This was on all 4 wheels.

Not too hot to hold, but on the limit of being able to hold your hand against it for too long.

Is this normal for brand new wheel bearings, or has the indy Land Rover garage over-tightened of under-greased every single one of them?!?

I also had 4 new brake discs and pads, in case that's relevant.

could be the pads just bedding into the new discs creating heat from friction, where was the heat emanating from the disc or the hub?

jack it up and give the wheels a spin if the pads are still binding on the discs you will be able to tell, or just go back and ask em.

the two parts that I felt were the discs, which were hot, and the "drive flange cover" or whatever it's called on the end of the axle (seen below), which was also hot.



The wheel itself was cold.

I will jack it up at the weekend and try to see if it's all still binding.

So am I right in assuming that if the "drive flange cover" (seen above) is hot it could be the bearings, but it could also be the brake discs transmitting heat through to that area?

Aye thats about it.

remove drive member and have a look ,wouldnt be the first time bearings have been over tightened or not greased

DiscoPol said:

Aye thats about it.

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good, good

I'll let the pads bed in a bit then. With brand new discs and brand new pads, the pistons are going to be right back as far as they can go, so the pads will break in pretty quickly and raise a lot of heat I guess!

I do trust the garage that has done this work, but was a bit wary when everything was hot when I got home after such a short drive! lol

We'll see how it goes

jamesmartin said:

remove drive member and have a look ,wouldnt be the first time bearings have been over tightened or not greased

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What would I be having a look for exactly?

And I'll have to learn what the "drive member" actually is first too. I also supplied the parts to the garage, including 1 sachet of "wheel bearing grease" for each pair of wheel bearings as per the Paddocks wheel bearing kit.

Also, should I just not drive it for a couple of hundred miles and see if they stop getting hot? Remember - i'm no expert here - I've attempted wheel bearing adjustment myself in the past and screwed it up several times despite it not being rocket science.

fishsponge said:

What would I be having a look for exactly?

And I'll have to learn what the "drive member" actually is first too. I also supplied the parts to the garage, including 1 sachet of "wheel bearing grease" for each pair of wheel bearings as per the Paddocks wheel bearing kit.

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drive member is the bit with cap on ,it connects drive from half shaft to wheel hub ,hub should spin with no drag or have freeplay

ok... you said "remove drive member and have a look".

I assume this is the drive member here:



If I remove this "cover", are you saying the wheel should spin freely with no binding whatsoever?

And if that is the case, does that mean that the wheel bearings are fine and it could just be the new brakes bedding in?

thats the drive member ,theres a circlip behind cap plus 1 or 2 shims bolts are 17mm headed ,bearings are tapered the more there tightened the greater the drag ,you should see if greased too

OK, so I need to jack up the car, undo the 5 bolts seen in the picture, remove the cover, but leave the circlip etc... in place.

I will then be able to see if it's greased or not. They're a good garage so I assume they will be greased otherwise I imagine the drive member would be red hot after 8 miles at 60mph, surely?!?

If I then spin the wheel it could be either the bearings or the brakes binding, right? How will I tell?

remove circlip first ,remove pads

fishsponge said:

Also, should I just not drive it for a couple of hundred miles and see if they stop getting hot?

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yep i reckon if you dont drive it for a couple of hundred miles it definately wont get hot:smokin:

wiltshire landyman said:

yep i reckon if you dont drive it for a couple of hundred miles it definately wont get hot:smokin:

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ha! that was a typo... I meant to say "should I not just drive it for........".

Is it sensible to drive it as it is for a couple of hundred miles and if still hot, take it back to the garage?

jamesmartin - So I need to jack up the car, undo the 5 bolts seen in the picture, remove the cover, remove the circlip, remove the brake pads.

Then spin the wheel. If it binds, then it's the wheel bearings. If it does not bind at all I should put the pads back in and see if it now binds.

Correct?

Also, why does removing the circlip make a difference to the binding?

that will do ,you cant get drive member off with circlip on

OK, i'm confused again... earlier you said this was the drive member, seen here, with 5 bolts holding it in place:



As far as I understand, I cannot access the circlip without taking this off.

You say, however, I cannot take this off without removing the circlip.

Catch 22...

plastic cap remove first then circlip then 5 bolts

ignore me. I'm being "inexperienced" again. The circlip is under the rubber "cap" isn't it... i'm going insane with my tiredness!

Right - i might try this next weekend actually as i'm going to be too busy this weekend (out at events both days).

Would it be sensible to just drive it for a 200 miles, let's say, and just look at it if it's still getting hot after that many miles?