<VV> Rear wheel bearings

[J R Read]

You can drive around a few neighborhood blocks with the windows down and 
maybe a helper with good ears in the back seat.  Pay attention to any sounds 
coming from the rear when making turns - say in the 10 to 20mph speed range. 
If it is quiet, it is probably good for now.  But, assuming that you want to 
know how it will be 3 years from now - after several trips back and forth, 
this would seem to be an appropriate time to take action.  Be sure you get 
the correct bearings for Corvair (not cheap) or replace the entire axels 
with fresh, greased bearing already installed (even more expensive).

Later, JR


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "chuck mckinley" <cmckinley313 at verizon.net>
To: "VirtualVairs AA" <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 07, 2012 9:05 AM
Subject: <VV> Rear wheel bearings


> Friends,
> In the 19 years I've owned it, my 63 Monza has never been driven more
> than about 20 miles from home and back. Next week I'll be driving it
> (one way) about 140 miles to my daughter's college, where she'll drive
> it for the next 2-3 years. I'm not aware of any problems in any of its
> components, but I'm a little nervous about whether the rear wheel
> bearings might have a problem with 140 miles of highway speed (I-64 in
> Virginia). As far as I know, they're the original bearings on the car.
> The car has, very roughly, about 85,000 miles on the clock. My question
> to you is whether those tricky bearings give you any sort of early
> warning that they're about to fail, or whether they tend to give up the
> ghost catastrophically and leave you suddenly riding on the backing
> plates with no brakes at all. I've heard some spooky stories about this
> and need to know what to expect. In particular, is there anything at all
> I can check before I take this trip?
>
> For what it's worth, the car always passes the annual safety inspection
> in Virginia, and they check the running gear pretty thoroughly, but I
> don't know if their checks are capable of detecting potential problems
> in the rear bearings.
>
> Your comments, ideas, and suggestions will be most welcome, as always.
>
> Cheers,
> Chuck
>
>