Cause of scary incident

My mechanic found the cause of the seizing/skidding incident that I posted recently. One of the offside front wheel bearings had completely disintegrated, it fell out onto the floor! Two rollers have gouges halfway through. Neither bearing showed any sign of grease - he reckons they were installed dry. The nearside ones had been greased.

I reckon the person that rebuilt this vehicle was pretty incompetent!

Here is the original posting:

Scary incident
I would appreciate suggestions about what happened to my ’92 110 200Tdi the other day.

I had slowed down to about 30 mph to pass some road works, when suddenly something seized up. There was a squeal of tires and in a couple of seconds I was stopped, on the other side of a two lane road, still facing the same direction. There was no noticeable affect on the steering wheel. Luckily there was no oncoming traffic at that moment.

The engine was still running, so I had hit the clutch.

I tried to pull forward but it was still seized up; same going in reverse. I tried low range and got about two feet before it jammed up again.

I asked the road workers to tow me backwards about fifty feet into a layby, which went smoothly with no obvious noises or problems. I was then able to reverse tidily to get out of the traffic. After checking for flat tires, hot brakes, etc. I drove home [only one mile luckily] at low speed.

I am reluctant to drive the vehicle until I have corrected the cause of the seizing.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Blimey - that sounds exactly like I've just experienced 2 days ago. And my front left hub was recently replaced too...hmm

I've got a 90 300tdi. Doing 30 down the lane a mile from home, suddenly "bmbbm bmbbmbb" noise, pulled to left. Luckily, it went onto a muddy verge, so no tarmac skidding, and so could slide to a stop. Tried putting into 1st - nothing moving - like having the handbrake on. Got out, rear left wheel all muddy from going down the verge, front left clearly seized and in one position.

Left it for 5 mins as I pondered brakes, levels and the rest. Tried again - moved OK. And crept back home @ 15mph. Got home - felt the centre of the front hubs - left one was definitely warmer than the right one. Took centre caps off and tested with a thermocouple - 35deg on the left, 20deg on the right. Hmm.

The guy that replaced the front half axle (in November) came and took it back, claiming no problems, and it was brake caliper seizing (Odd I thought - hadn't touched the brakes, I was on a straight bit of road).

Odd thing is, it still drives OK - but before it took only a mile for it to seize. So, also, I'm not keen driving it until it's resolved.

Matty,

The company that refurbished the 110 seem to be trying to duck the issue. I just got this reponse:
"the bearing broke and you continued to drive it without knowing this and the bearing gets so hot that the grease would literally evaporate."

I don't think my mechanic can help as we are in Ireland. Guess we need to know how you prove whether grease was used on the bearings or not. The intact bearing seems as dry as a bone.

JonM

Sounds like a pretty thankless task trying to prove liability. If you're pretty sure it was the companies fault though, I'd at least name them on here so's no-one else bothers them with their hard earned! Sounds like the grease evaporated as quickly as their after sales care!

i suspose the grease in the other side evaporated in sympathy also why would a bearing destroy its self if a) it was fully lubbed b) it was adjusted correctly?

'Cause it just didn't like the cut o' your jib young man. T'was bought in good faith & all our veehickorlls are reefurbished by a workforce with over a hundred minutes of Land Rover experience..........between them.

i'll have you know my jib was cut in saville row..by the girl that stands at the corner lamppost

i'll have you know my jib was cut in saville row..by the girl that stands at the corner lamppost

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isnt that your sister?

ffs if it was my sister that cut my jib i would have said" my sister cut my jib"

Blimey - that sounds exactly like I've just experienced 2 days ago. And my front left hub was recently replaced too...hmm

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D'you know a similar thing happenned to me in the 3:30 at aintree yesterday, a nagging pain in my ring piece,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,oops sorry I should be on yhe jokes thread

Hmm - we'll see how it goes. How long does it take to replace the bearing (and any associated damage it may have done)? ie is it a big job he's going to shirk from, or something he might just fit in on a friday afternoon?

JonM - how long did you keep on driving it before you got the bearing replaced? I mean, after the intial seize up and drive home, mine's still driveable (with a rumble from the front left) - I guess there's damage being done somewhere, but are we taking 10, 100, 1000 miles before you got it taken apart and fixed?

you should be able to do it in about an hour as long as the stub axle ain't too badly chewed up. best you take it apart and see exactly what you need then do it once you have all the parts. i wouldn't drive it at all till its fixed..just toooo dangerous.

I drove it very gingerly a few miles. I coasted down a local hill with the engine off so I could hear the squeaking noise, then over to my mechanic's shop. Nerve wracking!

JonM

Jon it seems to me, simple as I am, that the lack of grease is a side issue. The plain fact is that the bearing failed! So you drove a few miles, who cares. Any decent and reputable dealer would at least send you a new set of bearings. Why are car dealers generally such feckin ar*****es.

Hope you get it sorted out soon with not too great a hit in the pocket.

OK - so it was an inner bearing that had gone. And it had managed to weld itself to the stub axel. Result: new bearing and stub axle required. How much would people expect that to cost? £100? £200? £300? £400?

i reckon less than 100 squid. if you do it yerself. at a rough guess about 30-40 quid for the parts from p@@@@@ks