wheel bearings sound bad, bodge?

Hi all i have a 1994 disco 1 300tdi, now about a month ago it went swimming
for a few hours in wet muddy stuff well over the axles and hubs, since then i have had it offroad a good few times in some deep water and plenty of mud,
the last time out on the way back the pads sounded like they were grinding and upon inspection they were indeed down to metal on a couple of em, so after having my arm and a leg removed by local motor factors for a new set of fronts i stuck em on and all was good at the front again.

now being a tightwad and living over here in the land of po, i ordered a set of rear pads (mintex) from paddocks along with some other bits i needed(one shot grease, oil seals etc etc) and it was still cheaper than buying em here even with the £15 delivery charge

now the back pads at the time of ordering were not down to the metal, but in the week i waited for my stuff they started to grind too, well it all arrived last wednesday and i stuck em on straight away, now the discs are a little scored up but nothing that wont last over winter when i plan getting stuck in to all the bits like that, but the grinding noise is still there,

im thinking the hub bearings might be shot what with the amount of water ive been dicking about in, so my question is, is there a way to bodge em a bit quieter till i can get another delivery from paddocks over here(about a week or so) with some fresh bearings and a new hub nut spanner as mine is still back in blighty.

is it possible to do anything with grease or something similar for a week or so as i need her as a daily drive too

any help much appreciated


Pol

I dont think hub bearings are the sort of thing to bodge! I had a front one seeze and lock the wheel solid when i was doing 55 mph on a duel carrige way, was ok but I only just held it on the road!

My previous rear axle was spent a night submerged and a couple of months later I had a rear diff failure and wheel bearing failure almost simeltaniously. I dont like to submerge it for more than a fiew seconds now and if its in the water for a while, i change the axle fluid. Ive never found water in a hub bearing but somthing had washed the grease out of the one that seezed up on me!

don't have a lot of choice in the matter though, its squealing and grinding like a pig and i wont get it up in the air to spin the wheels and have a look see till Sunday at the earliest, then add a week for paddocks delivery then wait till a sunday again to work on it.

this is the problem with having it as the daily driver too :-(

DiscoPol said:

don't have a lot of choice in the matter though, its squealing and grinding like a pig and i wont get it up in the air to spin the wheels and have a look see till Sunday at the earliest, then add a week for paddocks delivery then wait till a sunday again to work on it.

this is the problem with having it as the daily driver too :-(

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Yea its ok to have it as a daily driver so long as you dont abuse it off road, mines my daily driver hence I try not to abuse it too oftern.

If your going to keep driving it and the wheel bearing is truly gone, the chances are you are going to ruin the stub axle too, which means more parts and work.

If its not too bad and you keep driving it, keep the sterio switched off and listen to it, if it moans even louder it means pull over! If you feel it tugging then thats bad too. But on the back you should still be able to control it if it does decide to seeze, drive with that in mind though would be my advice from experience. :doh:

if in doubt strip and clean it. reassemble with a smear of grease and change fluids.
only when you get it in bits will you know if it can go back in.

Grit in the bearings is going to wear them very quickly. Clean and repack with grease or replace them as soon as possible.
Have you checked there is no residual grit that has now bed into the new pads?

its going up in the air tomorrow so will have a feel of each wheel and an inspection of the pads and discs then too, its not stopped raining for 4 days now, thank feck for the mother inlaws garage!

i will be back with tales of woe or joyous rejoicing by tomorrow after noon

if you feel you need to repack the bearings with grease while you wait for new sets to arrive, then there's nothing wrong with that!

you can only improve the situation for new grease and correct backlash.

just be carfull not to damage the locking tab washer too much as you'll need to refit it until your new one turns up.

bugger bugger bugger!

well the rears have been strip checked and repacked with fresh grease and nipped up, it sounds better back there, so this afternoon its the fronts, if they are as crudded up as the backs its got to be a good thing to clean em down and regrease till new ones can be ordered and received here, the grease was all but gone in the rears and one side had the lubrication qualities of serious swarfega!

oh and any one know how to get a rounded brake calliper bolt out? one on the back has decided to round itself off nicely, bastard thing.

its looking more and more likely im gonna have to put the bloody thing in a garage, not good when you cant speak polish and they know it.

DiscoPol said:

oh and any one know how to get a rounded brake calliper bolt out?

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[ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000QW6K8I/ref=asc_df_B000QW6K8I1259394?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&tag=googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B000QW6K8I]Irwin Bolt Grip Nut Remover Expansion Set: Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools[/ame]

Irwin extractors are useful but you may need some heat as well.

silence is golden,

stripped cleaned and repacked then nipped up the existing bearings all corners on sunday and touch wood, not a peep out of them today, but then it has been ****ing down and the only sound with the window open is that of splashing water.

so on to ordering up at least 4 new ones with associated gaskets and locking washers and wait till they start grumbling again, then whip em off and replace, the old grease was like gritty brown ****e.

the link for the irwin stuff isnt working for me, but may well be because im not in the uk, but will look at them on google later, so are they recommended by you guys then?