By Brad Bradford (Brad) on Thursday, May 10, 2001 - 04:43 pm: Edit

Two days ago while driving down the road, i heard a high pitch squeal and then a thump. I had to limp home which was about 2 miles away. After replacing a front bearing about 3 months prior, i knew exactly what had happened; i had lost the rear driver side bearing. I thought this is no biggy, replacing bearings is easy. Little did I now that my bearing had welded itself to the stub axle. Well, after getting the brake rotor off, i tried to slide out the axle. Well, the axle didn't come out, and i tried and tried and it still didn't come out. Well as a last resort, i wrapped a chain around it, tied the other end to another truck and gave it a few pops, the damn thing still didn't come out. Well to make a long story short, i finally got the axle out after about 4 hours of work, and had to replace a stub axle, all new bearings and seals.

I am writing this to warn people to always grease your bearings after a trip off road. Land Rover seals do an excellent job of holding grease in, but they don'e exactly keep water out. This is just a little advice, it will save you a headache and sbout $200.

Brad

By Frode Hübertz Haaland (Discofrode) on Friday, May 11, 2001 - 03:08 am: Edit

Sorry to hear about your misfortune, Brad.
To me it seems like it was the 2 mile drive after the squeal & thump that did "wonders" to your bearing/stub. Means that tools for removing stubaxles should be present in truck...
Sounds like good advice to check those things out. Can't remember anything in the serviceschedule on repacking bearings...
I have never "done" my bearings, but will check out the manual to see into what's involved.
How long does it take you to "do" each bearing?
I guess they use papergaskets - what do you think about using gaskets in a tube...would that prove a better sealer?
Frode