67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

[Michael H.]

Re: 67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

When my left rear bearings went it was the grinding noise and the smoke that tipped me off. I was able to make it home.

I think the rear spindle/bearing design could have been a LOT better for the 63-82 cars, especially for maintenance. No excuse for the the way these have to be disassembled for service.
I understand how and why it happened though.

If I ever have another spindle bearing issue, I'm going to drill a hole in the spindle flange to gain access to the four nuts that retain the spindle support to the control arm.
I still don't understand why engineering didn't do this to begin with.

[Chuck S.]

Re: 67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

Gerry, I can's see the pics. I would like to view them so I can get a sense of exactly what happened. Thanks.

Kirk

Kirk, you gotta' see this!...Visualize a river of molten inner bearing race headed for the exit in the bottom of the spindle support. Whoa...Dude, that steel is SO hard, it has to be GROUND!!! We're talking temperatures of, what?, 2500-3000 degrees?!

[Michael H.]

Re: 67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

Kirk, you gotta' see this!...Visualize a river of molten inner bearing race headed for the exit in the bottom of the spindle support. Whoa...Dude, that steel is SO hard, it has to be GROUND!!! We're talking temperatures of, what?, 2500-3000 degrees?!

Yup, the inner bearing inner race stopped rotating/seized and the friction between the rotating spindle shaft and the motionless race had create a LOT of heat.

[Clem Z.]

Re: 67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

how about this. drill and tap the spindle support for a 1/8" pipe plug and after you assemble the spindle and bearings into the support and then add 80-90W gear lube and install the pipe plug. tell me why this will not work.

[Michael H.]

Re: 67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

how about this. drill and tap the spindle support for a 1/8" pipe plug and after you assemble the spindle and bearings into the support and then add 80-90W gear lube and install the pipe plug. tell me why this will not work.

Ya know, you may be on to something there Clem! Only snag I see would be the possibility of 90W leaking out on the brake rotor.
Very interesting.

[Clem Z.]

Re: 67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

Ya know, you may be on to something there Clem! Only snag I see would be the possibility of 90W leaking out on the brake rotor.
Very interesting.

all heavy duty over the road trucks and trailers use this system instead of grease for all wheel bearings.

[Kirk M.]

Re: 67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

Kirk, you gotta' see this!...Visualize a river of molten inner bearing race headed for the exit in the bottom of the spindle support. Whoa...Dude, that steel is SO hard, it has to be GROUND!!! We're talking temperatures of, what?, 2500-3000 degrees?!

I can see the pics at home. Must have been blocked at my work for some reason. They are amazing.

[Michael H.]

Re: 67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

all heavy duty over the road trucks and trailers use this system instead of grease for all wheel bearings.

Might need a little more efficient seal setup for Corvette but I bet it would work Clem.

[Jean C.]

Re: 67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

Kirk, you gotta' see this!...Visualize a river of molten inner bearing race headed for the exit in the bottom of the spindle support. Whoa...Dude, that steel is SO hard, it has to be GROUND!!! We're talking temperatures of, what?, 2500-3000 degrees?!

I reckon I am lucky...no broken spindle, no fire, no damaged fiberglass on my '64. What tipped me off that I had a problem was a sound not unlike grinding glass when attempting to move the car in the hotel parking lot. I was enroute to Marlborough on the Road Tour and was directed to a shop in Cumberland, MD. After working on the car for awhile, the tech handed me parts of a race and said he had no idea where the rollers disappeared to. Two and a half hours of shop time and I was enroute to Carlisle to meet up with the Tour. Thank you Mike McCagh .
Best regards,

[Joe L.]

Re: 67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

how about this. drill and tap the spindle support for a 1/8" pipe plug and after you assemble the spindle and bearings into the support and then add 80-90W gear lube and install the pipe plug. tell me why this will not work.

clem-----


It WILL work; it just won't work for long. The seals used on the inner and outer bearings are not designed to seal a lubricant with the viscosity of 80-90W gear oil in an IMMERSED environment. However, if improved seals could be found that would fit the bearing housing and not otherwise cause interference problems, the conversion could be made.

[Joe L.]

Re: 67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

That's only if they put any grease in to begin with. When I had my 1970 rear bearings done four years ago (I'll save you the math -- that is 34 years) the report was -- almost no grease in there. Now maybe it sublimated and disappeared, but I don't think that is what happened. The vendor who assembled the TAs originally saved a few cents per unit by scrimping on grease.

Terry-----


The grease used for packing these bearings in PRODUCTION was GM #1052497. This is a lithium SOAP type of grease. It's an old-technology lubricant and was replaced years ago by a much more modern lubricant but not before the 1052497 was used on all 1963-82 Corvettes. Basically, this type of grease is an oil + a soap. Over time, the oil "takes its leave" of the soap, slowly gets by the seals, and volatilizes or otherwise dissipates. It leaves behind the soap. The soap is the "cakey, dried-up looking stuff" one finds when disassembling these assemblies after long service. The soap will not lubricate the bearings and, ultimately, failure will result.

In PRODUCTION, the bearings were packed with grease but there was very little, if any, extra grease packed into the housing. This was a GM specification for the assembly. So, there was really not very much grease in the entire assembly-----mostly just that actually packed into the bearings which is really a VERY small amount.

Some folks actually pack the entire cavity of the bearing support with grease. This can also easily occur when one uses the inner bearing greasing tool and pumps in more grease than GM recommends. However, GM advises against packing the cavity full of grease. In fact, most of the grease outside of the bearings will do absolutely nothing since there's no way for it to get into the bearings

[Joe L.]

Re: 67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

The housing appears to be "dry", but maybe you cleaned it out.

Does it appear that the primary failure was a seized bearing that caused the spindle shaft to break, or does it appear that the spindle broke on its own.

Duke

Duke-----


This is pretty much how it always looks after this sort of failure. What happens is that the assembly gets so hot that it incinerates whatever remains of the organic content of the original lubricant (which as I described in another post is usually only the soap from the original grease). What little is seen in the housing is the inorganic ash from this incineration.

[Joe L.]

Re: 67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

Terry-----


The calipers changed in about 1973, although there may have been a phase-in period during that model year. The 65-E67 calipers and the L67-72 calipers were cast nodular iron or malleable iron sometimes known as Armasteel which was actually a GM-developed cast iron alloy.

From 1973-onward, the calipers were gray cast iron. They actually added material for these castings to partially make up for the loss in strength due to the change of material. The added material is mostly in reduced internal cavities, so there is little change in the outward configuration of the castings.

The rear caliper brackets were always manufactured from nodular or malleable iron, though. They never changed material.

[Clem Z.]

Re: 67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

clem-----


It WILL work; it just won't work for long. The seals used on the inner and outer bearings are not designed to seal a lubricant with the viscosity of 80-90W gear oil in an IMMERSED environment. However, if improved seals could be found that would fit the bearing housing and not otherwise cause interference problems, the conversion could be made.

how about drilling a 1/16" hole down the center of the spindle deep enought to reach the center between the 2 bearings. then you drill a 1/16" hole 90 degrees to the first hole and put a zerk fitting in the face of the spindle so you can put in grease from a grease gun. this is the way i set up all my off road dirt bikes and quads so i could grease the wheel bearing without having to take everything apart. i remove the spring and check ball from the zerk fitting so it can relieve the pressure after filling with grease and then i put a plastic snap on cap over the zerk fitting to keep out the dirt and water

[Joe R.]

Re: 67 Wheel bearing saga- Unbelieveable

Clem,

Sounds like a great idea and several people had even marketed that exact idea. Problem is: It won't work! Why? Because you have to fill the entire cavity with grease before it gets to the bearings. How do you know when the cavity is filled and the bearings are lubricated???? When the grease squirts out of the seal! This happens and your lubricate not only the trailing arm on the inside but the parking brake shoe assembly behind the hub. Makes a nice mess and you end up taking the whole things apart anyway!

Yeah, I know you can be careful but do you think that would happen????

JR