Ajjra

My '84 944 has developed an annoying sound coming from the right rear. It sound like a failed wheel bearing to me but I am not certain. The odd thing is, if I turn hard left and load that wheel, the sound goes away. Does that sound like bad wheel bearing behavior?

Thanks in advance.

xsboost90

yes- jack the wheel up and see if its alittle loose. Your early car has regular style bearings so you should be able to change them w/o a press.

dykaar

You can diagnose a wheel bearing by correlating the noise it makes with the load it sees: Turn left and right, if the noise is louder when its loaded, its the bearing on that side.

Regards,

doug
Waterloo, Ontario Canada, eh


86 951 (http://www.pcaucr.org/index.php/visu...egory&catid=61)
01 E320 (W210) 4-matic Wagon (http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w210...body-do-2.html)
00 540i-6 (http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...hp?albumid=976)
94 855 turbo Wagon (sold in 09)
85 535i-5 (sold in 07)
76 300D (sold in 92)
83 944 (sold in 86)
I apparently only buy cars designated by numbers

Ajjra

Oddly, the noise goes away when that side is loaded...

dykaar

Sigh. Maybe look for excess play as per xsboost90. If you're dead sure its a rear wheel bearing prolly makes sense to replace both. I am and they aren't even bad, but the swing arms are off...

Regards,

doug
Waterloo, Ontario Canada, eh


86 951 (http://www.pcaucr.org/index.php/visu...egory&catid=61)
01 E320 (W210) 4-matic Wagon (http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w210...body-do-2.html)
00 540i-6 (http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...hp?albumid=976)
94 855 turbo Wagon (sold in 09)
85 535i-5 (sold in 07)
76 300D (sold in 92)
83 944 (sold in 86)
I apparently only buy cars designated by numbers

Makis

Probably the other side is gone then. I think the recommendation is to do both anyway. I found the rear bearings (new type one piece) are very difficult to detect problem. When you lift the wheel there is no movement what so ever also no roughness when you turn the wheel. I went to replace one and the noise was still there. Had to replace the other one eventually to sort the problem.

SalzundPfeffer

I did a wheel bearing on my '84 around 2 years ago.

Before you buy parts to do the bearing (which wasn't that difficult to do with a little patience) double check the main castle nut that holds down the axle stub. It's a huge 36mm nut with a cotter pin. When I went to do my bearing the nut was finger-tight...That thing should take a 3 foot cheater bar to pry off.

Since I already had purchased everything for the wheel bearing job, I went ahead and replaced everything. Took care of the noise, but I will never be certain if it was the actual bearings or the loose castle nut.

Review info on clarks-garage.com for clarification.

-bp

AKCJ

My experience was the same - one nut was very tight and the other came off easily. Could have something to do with direction of rotation . . . .

I was getting a little noise in the rear so I just cleaned/greased/flipped the CV's and put in new rear wheel bearings. Much quieter now.

dirtyTurbo

I hope your neighbors havent been getting the wrong idea seeing you swerving all over the road trying to diagnose the problem(mine did)

For me anyway, the sound was coming from the right and got louder as I added more load, and replacing the right rear wheel bearing solved the problem completely

Ajjra

Funny you should say that. My wife was driving behind me when I first discovered it. When we got home she jokingly asked me: "Have you been drinking or something? You were all over the place out there?"

I think I figured it out and it's not a wheel bearing.
The right rear tire is running on cord, it's comepetely worn down. I'm running a ton of negative camber and so the outside of the tire was showing any of the wear. The left rear is not corded. Loading the tire is making it go away because it is reducing the negative camber.

Ajjra

Just to close this out - after replacing the corded tires I still had the noise.

Car is at the mechanic right now. It is the wheel bearing.