Bearing or worse?

94' 300es tdi

Pulling in for my regular fuel stop and as I turned right there was a sort of crunch/clunk from front n/s Immediate thought was bugger I just brushed that post, got out to have a look and no damage on bumper, so looked at the wheel and all seemed fine. Then decided to give it a wiggle. Well that resulted in blatantly obvious play up and down, kept pushing it to check it wasn't just loose wheel nuts, all were tight. Checked it wasn't going through steering linkage etc and it looks to me as the wheel and brake disc on front n/s wiggle together. Then on the drive Home there was a kind of ticking (like I had a stone in the tire but dont worry I checked that) but it wasn't rhythmic and started to progress into a much more metallic clicking/ occasional crunch. got home and hub Didn't feel abnormally hot. Got a quote for 130 quid for 1 bearing so sod that I'll do it myself.

So, now you've read my essay, does this sound like a wheel bearing, or something worse? If it is a bearing it's kind of snuck up on me, didn't think they would just go. Haven't had the thing more than 2 months so a bit new to it all. Bit nervous about driving it now as I don't wonna break owt else. So what does this sound like to you guys?
Chris

sounds at least you need wheel brg dont get kit they use cheap brgs usually 2 x rtc3429 and ftc4785 seal make sure timken brgs ,make sure you pack brgs with grease not space around do it asap else either wheel will come off or at least new hub and stub

Cheers for the quick reply. Will borrow my brothers car till the weekend hopefully me and my dad can get it done.

Is it a fairly straight forward job? Obviously don't wonna balls it up, but will be sure to follow busters guide.

And how much should just the set of bearings cost? And should I do the front pair?

1 side 2 x rtc3429 timken ,remove drive member and check other side when doing other,remember when fitting seal which is square u shape in profile that hollow side goes into hub with rubber lips toward stub axle theres no garter spring as is grease seal ,tigthen brgs tight to seat then back off and just remove free play fit lock washer then next nut tighten tight this preloads brg enough

Ta, will get that done at the weekend.

Just an update. On my way to college, horrible metallic scraping grinding noise so loud it could be heard clearly in houses (someone came out) no Idea what it is. Drove very slowly home where leaving it and swapping it for dads car. If this is the bearing its the most spectacular one that's gone on me ever.

Any more ideas? I'm broke so won't want to garage it. But need it fixed.

probably brg collapsed

What I thought. Pretty spectacular. Hope it's not buggered stub up. Just bought new bearing 40 quid.

you can get timken brgs for less than a tenner each

Balls. I just rang garage and that's all they had. I'll get this one fixed so I can actually drive it and will do the other One soon.

Freediscoranger said:

What I thought. Pretty spectacular. Hope it's not buggered stub up. Just bought new bearing 40 quid.

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I got a pair of timkens bearings and all the bits last week for £23. If the bearing has collapsed you might some emery paper as well to clean off the stub.

Good luck, it really isn't that difficult a job and defo one worth learning how to do coz it'll save you a lot of dosh.

Just to say. Didn't bother with bearing as the big nuts were really loose. Tightend them up and backed off a bit (cheers buster) no more wobble

The same happened to me a couple of weeks ago , clunking noise whilst driving then every now and again it would grab and pull me left . turned out the full bearing had disintrigated and was sat in the bottom of the hub . Took about a hour to get the inner cup off the stub axle as it had welded itself together

Just another update, tightened bearing up to specific torque setting, made it better at first and it's slowly gone back to before. Pretty sure it is the bearing, however when I took the hub apart the bearing looked alright to me. will probably replace anyway. Just wondering if anything else could be causing this?

on disco 1 wheel brgs are set by overtightening to seat brg ,then undo and tighten nut to just remove free play then fit tab washer abd tighten outer nut tight ,this adds just enough preload

Yep. Did that but didn't bother replacing due to stupidly loose nut, would having it too loose knackared the bearing faster?

hard facing on brgs isnt that thick so if near its limit wear will become rapid

I had that noise a few weeks ago. Turns out my swivel bearings were completely collapsed!! Diff oil ****ing out into the swivel housings too

matthew2riches said:

I had that noise a few weeks ago. Turns out my swivel bearings were completely collapsed!! Diff oil ****ing out into the swivel housings too

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how are they now mate, all good i hope....

Had the same thing on my disco 300, it was the swivel bearings, replaced them and seals, now all ok.