legacycentral bbs

The rear end of the wagon is starting to get noisy again. A couple of months ago I replaced the passenger side wheel bearing I believed it to be the cause of the noise. Most of it was, the bearings were toast.

However in the past few days I've noticed the same noise coming from the rear end. I haven't had time to go out in the cold to put all fours on jackstands to listen to each side, but even then it's hard to tell since the noise will travel through the whole rear end.

I do notice that if I drive on the left hand side of the highway the noise goes away. If I switch lanes to the right side of the road, noise comes back. I know the noise is coming from the rear. Would that be an indication that the driver's side bearing is toast, or that the new bearing I put in the pass side is somehow toast? (it was Timken, brand new unit, I was assured by the timken rep they were prefilled with more than enough automotive wheel bearing grease)

I don't think it's inside the rear as most of the time carrier bearings make some nasty noises when they go.
Matt

A wheel bearing should get noisier if you swerve from side to side quite sharply.

It will be noisier when the weight of the car comes on the crook bearing, so, if the right bearing was crook the noise would get louder if you swerve sharply to the left. If both sides are crook it will be hard to tell which is noisier but it will get noisier when the weight of the car comes on to it.

Driveshafts and diffs are not effected much by the weight transfer, although axles can change the sound they are making due to changing geometry.

If you have it jacked up and are turning the wheels by hand listening for the noise, and it is being transfered from one side to the other via the diff and axles so that you can't tell which side is making the noise, try putting your fingers on the bearing housing and you will be able to feel the crook side rumble through your fingers.

While it is up you should be checking for play in the bearing too of course.

well it gets noisier going from left to right sharply. Im sure the bearing I installed in the pass side is fine, so I guess I'll be borrowing the father in laws garage again to do the driver's side bearing...