<VV> The "Fix it on the road" list of tricks

[kevin nash]

> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Sun, 8 Jan 2012 12:59:33 -0500 (EST)
> From: jvhroberts at aol.com
> Subject: Re: <VV> The " Fix it on the road" list of tricks
> To: corvairduval at cox.net, virtualvairs at corvair.org
> Message-ID: <8CE9C466919F17A-6C8-A616B at Webmail-m115.sysops.aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> 
> 
>  1. It's big.
> 2. It's a large chunk of dead weight. 
> 3. An axle with a new bearing is better used in the installed position. 
> 4. It's a piece you don't have to carry as inventory. 
> 5. An axle with a new bearing installed will last a VERY long time, and becomes something you don't worry about. 
> 6. If you are worried about it, replace the rear wheel bearings every 10 years/50,000 miles, and again, becomes something you'll NEVER have to worry about!
> 
> I have driven my Corvair 1600 miles in one trip. All I carried were basic tools, a fanbelt, and I kept my total spares to under 15 pounds, and only then these were things I either couldn't get at FLAPS, or things I knew weren't reliable. Like rocker arms and pushrods, since I couldn't afford the fancy roller versions.  After all, I was a broke kid back then! But wheel bearings? If I had new ones, I installed them! That way, I could replace them at my convenience, not the wheel bearings' convenience!
> 
>  
> 
> John Roberts
>  
> 
John your point about having a new bearing being better than a used one makes perfect sense- assuming that the new bearing really works as well as the old one.The problem with early rear axle bearings has ALWAYS been (until a few years ago) that the "new" bearings did NOT swivel as far as the original ones did, anddid not last anywhere near as long as the original ones did- my understanding is that the non-original ones could sometimes fail in only 5000 miles!- given that it's easy to see why some might feel the need to carry a spare well greased original one, not knowing when the others are going to fail ("new" or otherwise). It's all true that it would be much better to get a set of new wheel bearings (the good ones that swivel as far as the originals) mounted and installed- but then again, for a car thats not driven very often- it's probably more of a case of "it aint broke dont fix it".  On my list of preventitive maintenance items is to get a set of new rear wheel bearings,but in the mean time, the re-built set that are in now have worked just fine- I have put approximately 20,000 miles on them, they havent started making any noise yet!Kevin Nash