Wheal Bearings & Your Vehicle

The wheel bearing allows the wheel to rotate freely and smoothly. The wheel bearing typically is made up of two rows of ball or tapered roller bearings, surround by and inner and outer bearing race which is the surface the bearing rolls on. The bearings are filled with grease and fitted with seals on both sides.

Wheel Bearing Gone Bad:

Wheel bearings usually go bad when grease leaks out and contaminants are able enter the bearing. Worn bearings may be noisy and increases with speed. Extremely worn bearings can cause issues with brakes and suspension components. Bearings can also go bad from wear and driving habits. Driving habits such as, excessive braking and aggressively taking corners. These habits cause too much weight and load on the vehicle, increasing the pressure on the bearing. A bad wheel bearing can cause damage to other components of your vehicle, such as the CV Axle Shaft.

CV Axle Shaft:

The frame of a vehicle is know as its chassis which is the main supporting structure responsible for holding all other components together, comparable to the skeleton of an organism. It anchors the key components of a vehicle: suspension system, wheels and car body. The suspension system connects the frame of the vehicle to the wheels. Control arms, control arm bushings & ball joints allow the vehicle to move up and down. The vehicle's wheel bearing, hub and knuckle assembly connect the wheel to the control arm. These components are what allow the wheels of a vehicle to turn left and right as well as travel up and down over bumps. On front and all-wheel drive vehicles, the CV Axle Shafts are what connect the transmission with the wheels. In order to maintain power to the wheels, the axles use flexible joints called CV Joints. CV boots, which project the CV joints, should be inspected as part of routine maintenance. See what happened this week at V&F...

This Week at V&F:

A customer brought in their vehicle complaining of a terrible knocking noise. The noise was so displeasing to the ear that she did not feel comfortable driving it. Our technicians brought the vehicle for a test drive to duplicate the noise. Upon inspection, they were are to find that the front CV Axle and wheel bearings needed to be replaced. The wheel bearing had failed causing the CV Axle to be excessively loose. Due to this, the axle had too much play. In turn, causing damage to the axle spindle. #wheelbearing #cvaxle [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="800"] The vehicle's wheel bearing blew. The CV Axle Shaft is excessively loose. Due to this, the axle spindle has been damaged from excessive movement.[/caption]