Rumbling sound. Bearings?

[toomanymodz]

I bought an 87 GN last month and the first thing I noticed when driving it is a rumbling sound that is consistent with the vehicle speed.

Yesterday I pulled the front rotors off and sure enough, the outer wheel bearings were on their way out. So I replaced them.

I drove the car again, expecting all to be fine, but there is still the 'bad wheel bearing' sound, only now it is coming from the rear of the car, instead of everywhere.

I yanked the rear axles and inspected the bearings. To my surprise, they look fine. Are these cars known for bad carrier bearings or pinion bearings? I haven't yanked the caps yet (trying to locate the torque spec for those bolts first), but figured I'd ask. There are no ring/pinion whining noises, just the bad bearing noise. Any thoughts?

 

[DailyDrifter]

To confirm your diagnosis, I would put the bearings out and look at the races, and rollers. If they dont look like a mirror then I would replace them. Also make sure you set the correct amount of preload on them. Also, to check the front bearings "load" and "unload" the front tires while driving (basically jerk the steering wheel back and forth at about 35mph) you can hear if the bearings are bad.

 

[toomanymodz]

UPDATE: I pulled the carrier and I have to say, these are the worst looking bearings I've ever seen. Napa sells new ones for $22 each. The hardest part will be pressing them off and on. I've replaced carrier bearings on my Jeep a few years back and I put the shims back where they were and everything worked fine. I hope that is the case again.

 

[TurboBuRick]

UPDATE: I pulled the carrier and I have to say, these are the worst looking bearings I've ever seen. Napa sells new ones for $22 each. The hardest part will be pressing them off and on. I've replaced carrier bearings on my Jeep a few years back and I put the shims back where they were and everything worked fine. I hope that is the case again.

Those bearings go through holy hell. If you can get the shims back in there the way they came out, you should be fine but if they are too tight it will over load the bearings like DD mentions.

 

[toomanymodz]

Those bearings go through holy hell. If you can get the shims back in there the way they came out, you should be fine but if they are too tight it will over load the bearings like DD mentions.

They sure do take a lot of punishment. I wonder if a TA girdle would extend the bearing life at all.