<VV> EM wheel bearing question

[Frank DuVal]

I have found many used bearing to be real loose, i.e. easily rotated 
axially to the shaft and (hard to describe) easily rotated radially to 
the bearing rollers. What I mean is the bearing housing seems to rotate 
in all manner of directions relative to the axle. The rollers are barrel 
shaped, not typical roller bearings with flat sides, so there is an arc 
of movement not found on front wheel bearings of the cup and cone style.

The inner race should be tight on the axle shaft, "no loose on the 
shaft" at this point.

Grease it and place it back in service. Hope that takes care of the 
squeak. If it rumbles, then it is bad.

Frank DuVal

On 4/10/2011 10:00 PM, Ramon Rodriguez III wrote:
> Greetings Vairfolk,
>
> This evening I pulled the shaft on the right side of the 63' to check and
> grease the wheel bearing as we discussed a couple weeks ago.  I finally got
> my CORSA tech guide this week so that was a huge help!!!
>
> The reason I'm writing here is that I'm afraid the bearing might be shot and
> need to know how to evaluate it.  Right now my big question is this;  Before
> I took the retainer ring/dust cap etc. off of the bearing assembly the whole
> thing was kinda loose on the shaft which I thought might not be right.  By
> loose I mean i was able to rotate it around kinda like a ball joint, is this
> normal?
>
> The bearing assy. seems to be the 63-64 type.  After removing the rubber
> seal and the snap ring I had another piece come out before the race, this
> was not mentioned in the tech guide.  It was a sort of metal cap.  When the
> race came out the inner bearing kinda came with it and I wound up with a
> couple of the rollers halfway falling out of it.  They stayed stuck in the
> grease so I didn't lose track of which one came from where.
>
> The grease doesn't seem near as bad as I feared, but I did start hearing a
> little squeak at the right rear yesterday which is what prompted me to pull
> it apart tonight despite the fact that I kinda needed it drivable for a
> couple more days.... Missy might be relying on bummed rides from friends for
> a few days to get to work.
>
> On the bright side I did get it apart without breaking or losing anything
> and I love my new tech guide!
>