VCU Bearings V.S. Pillow Bearings

Hi Gents,

Long time no chat.

I have some issue with the VCU Bearings lately.
I have changed them not long time ago with brand new one's

After one Off roading and couple of rough starts they start to moan again.
I guess they were poor quality.

My question about changing the VCU Bearings with Pillow bearings.
The Pillow bearings casing is more rouged and there is a possibility to re-grease them when ever you want...not to change the complete bearing stand.

Did somebody have any info about this or maybe even somebody already did this.

I need your opinion about this and shearing best practice for protecting the VCU bearings.

Once Land Rover....Always Land Rover

Regards
Zoran

If the bearing(s) have gone and the rubber mount is okay, replace the bearing with a SKF or other QUALITY bearing ref.6006-2RS1. Be sure to pack the cavity between the bearing and dished flinger/washer with EP2 grease, as per RAVE. The rubber mounting which varies greatly with quality depending on the supplier is there for a purpose. It dampens any slight vibration and also acts as a silencer to reduce transmission,final drive noise.
Pillow bearings are designed for solid shafting without universal joints and hold the shaft rigid during rotation. They have a spherical arrangement for slight misalignment during setup but this is not a "Self adjusting" method during constant running.
They cope well with dust etc. but I would not use them in wet/muddy potentially abraisive conditions. I also feel that the speed rating of the pillow bearings is much lower than that encountered on the car.
The fact that the steel bearing housing is moulded into the rubber bush is probably the reason why no-one has come up with a Polyurethane type replacement as the bonding is stronger with rubber than PU.

Hey IrishRover,

Thanks a lot for your time and great explanation.
Is there a way to re-grease the current bearings without removing the prop's?

Something like to remove the rubber protection and that the bearing cover with a tiny screwdriver??

Have you ever seen or told that somebody did that?
I mean after all...is it possible

The rubber or steel bearing seals should not be removed as they will not fit back. Search for the SKF bearings using the part no. I have given on the likes of EBay and you will see that they are cheap enough to buy and are excellent quality bearings. The rubber mount will fail long before the SKF bearing provided it has been packed with grease as instructed on RAVE.
If the existing bearings are worn or "Lumpy" then they are scrap and should be replaced. No amount of grease will fix them
So, in a nutshell, the answer to your question in my opinion is NO.
Good Luck

Hey Irishrover, sorry for my late replay.

I will listen to your advice and as soon the rains stop to fall i will use that time to change only the bearings with skf's.

I appreciate your time and effort helping me solve this problem cheap and fast

Wish you the best.

Regards
Zoran