urgent: wheel bearing failure

[Spinal]

I'm in Spain, near algeciras... my front offside wheel bearing failed... I think... crunching noise when moving, no apparent visual damage when wheel removed. had to drive 4 miles to safe parking like that... how far can I drive on a broken bearing? What's the worst vase scenario? doing this from my mobile on roaming... at 5am... ugh! oh, and roughly what would it cost to fix?

 

[camerafodder]

You can't predict how far you can drive with a damaged wheel bearing. You will need to change it immediately. The worst that can happen is that the wheel can come off. I've no idea how much the fix will be but you'll have to do it to carry on. Driving with a damaged front wheel bearing leaves the potential to wreck your stub axle, brakes etc...

 

[grober]

Your front hub is going to look roughly like this. çàï÷àñòè Mercedes: êîäû çàï÷àñòåé ìåðñåäåñ As you can see there's an inner seal + an inner and outer bearing plus the adusting nut with allen key type locking bolt. Best way to check the bearing is with the car jacked up and wheel on. Try rocking the wheel to see how much play there is in the bearing and spin it to listen for signs of wear. excessive play and lots of roughness/ vibration on rotation means complete failure is imminent. You often need a hub puller to get the hub off but with a broken bearing who knows. You will have to remove the brake caliper to do this.

 

[Brian WH]

Is Mobilo still active on your car, if so call them. They will get you to the nearest garage.
If not wait till tomorrow and find your nearest MB Garage and go there SLOWLY.

 

[bigshineybike]

Did you hear it fail?
or become aware it has failed?
Once you know its broken you cannot feel comfortable driving on it.
However, I had a bearing I knew was failing, there was play in the wheel (perhaps 3mm at the outer edge of the tyre.) I bought a bearing but that sat on the shelf for another two weeks (maybe 400 miles of 40 MPH commuting )
When I changed the bearing it was horifying to see how smashed up the bearing was.
but I was never more than 20 miles from home.
you are on holiday in Spain? the shops are shut. I wouldnt recomend driving back to England but even with all the rollers gone the shaft and housing will be protected by the hardened inner and outer race and grease.
at up to 30miles an hour I would be happy to drive 100miles take bends gently just in case. the brake disc will stop the wheel falling off completley.

 

[Spinal]

thanks to everyone for replying... at the hotel who kindly allowed me to use their computer!

We heard the bearing fail - kind of like a cat screech, followed by a shearing metal sound followed by grinding...

I drove to a local mechanic today... another 4 miles down the hill... the wheel stopped making noises after another crunch noise... now seems fine... though I'm convinced it's not. The mechanic refused to understand the problem so I gave up after 12 garages {I also needed a set of tyres swapped on rims and no-one does it}

So the plan is to drive slowly to the ferry tomorrow morning, get to morocco and find a bush-mech to replace the entire hub...

M.

 

[grober]

You may have caught a large stone between the caliper and brake back plate-this rubs against the disc and causes the brake back plate to screech/ ring ---- bearings usually "growl" and once damaged don't go usually go silent again. The best test is by feeling the wheel/bearing for roughness on rotation and listen for any mechanical noise . You might have to push the caliper pads open slightly from the disc to allow for any movement.

 

[nigel cross]

Sounds like you did pick up a small stone to me, I would have thought that if it was a wheeling bearing it would have been a more gradual build up and not a quick disaster.

 

[Spinal]

Howdy!

So... eventually decided to look into it... jacked the car up and rattled the wheel, there was a bit of play {guessing 2mm-ish in being able to move the wheel horizontally away from the car}. Rotating the wheel had a "rough spot" which scraped on each turn (this was after the caliper was off, so no rubbing with the brake pads possible) (just found the parenthesis key on this keyboard!)

With little more than a leatherman, a rubber mallet and a wrench {oh and an allen key} I got the various bits of the bearing off... turns out 2 of the bearings are not cylindrical {they roll funny } and the metal bit between them had snapped and truly disintegrated into the bearing... the grease felt like it had sand in it...

Theres a merc dealership near us, but they have a siesta until 5pm - then they open until 7pm... so with some major luck, they'll have the bearings in stock. I'm also going to grab a taxi into town, and see if I can find an identical bearing set from random garages... not much luck, but I feel that if I don't try things will be very screwed up...

Regarding the noise - it had gone away... then come back a bit {but more as a scrape than the repetitive clunking noise...} May have been the speed I was driving at... anyhow.. let's see if I can find a taxi now... fingers crossed! (anyone know a good indy in Tarifa/Algeciras ? Ian, where are you when I need you? )

M.

 

[DRBC43AMG]

I lost a front wheel when the bearing failed and before being able to stop on a German autobahn. Certainly not funny. I also had also an stub axle snap when racing in my Porsche, but that's more normal considering the conditions. Get your bearing changed PRONTO!

 

[312 Sprinter]

Don't drive too far on it. Once the bearing seizes it'll quickly get so hot it welds itself onto the stub axle. At that point an easy fix turns into a pain. Replacing the bearing is easy.

 

[Spinal]

My what a day...

Did you know that MB dealerships are closed in the afternoon in Spain for a siesta? They only reopen at 17:00 (until 19:00)...

Anyhow... eventually got the bearing off, and called the dealer who had the parts in stock! Whoop!

Another team in the rally was kind enough to drive me to the MB dealer... problem is, the dealer I called was in another part of spain! Luckily even though the dealer in algeciras didn't have the parts there was a ball bearing factory a hundred meters down the road!

He wasn't sure if the part was right as the numbers on the bearings we had were worn off. He had a choice of two with a discrepancy of 0.03mm, but he had only one in stock not both. I ended up buying that on a 50/50 chance, and guess what?!? It fit!!!

So, thank you all for your help, rally on!!

Onwards to Africa tomorrow,
M.

 

[Littledigger]

You may have caught a large stone between the caliper and brake back plate-this rubs against the disc and causes the brake back plate to screech/ ring ---- bearings usually "growl" and once damaged don't go usually go silent again. The best test is by feeling the wheel/bearing for roughness on rotation and listen for any mechanical noise . You might have to push the caliper pads open slightly from the disc to allow for any movement.

This is what happened to me. After spending a small fortune on having the car towed and diagnosed, i felt very annoyed it was a stone.