Gunz
Houligan
What I thought was bad flange bearings turned out to be worn dampners.
Here's the story:
I began installing my TPMS this morning, and while re-balancing the wheel after installing the transmitter unit, I heard the dreaded sound of bearings grinding. DAMHIK I said. I spun the wheel the other way, and the noise was still there. I removed the wheel from my HF gravity balancer and began trying to spin the bearings by hand. Being somewhat panic'd, I didn't have all the grease off the the flange bearing, and thus I was unable to spin the flange bearings with my finger. Having suddenly lost all hope of finishing today, I sat down at the computer to look for solutions and availablity of new bearings.
Having no luck at finding bearings on a Sunday, I decided to clean and disassemble what I could (FWIW, the inside of the wheel/damper compartment was heavily coated with what appeared to be grease and burnt rubber pieces). Having gotten everything clean, I noticed that I could now spin the bearings and they felt fine. I reassembled everything, put it back on the gravity balancer and the noise was still there. I decided to check run out with the axle installed, and while installing the axle, I noticed significant play on the flange plate in relation to the wheel. While disassembling the flange plate, I heard a strange, funky bearing like noise. Upon disassembly, I discovered the flange plate was slipping/skipping against the worn dampners, making a noise very similiar to worn bearings. I made some temporary spacers from foam tape and reassembled everything. Perfect- no noise and the wheel balanced out very nicely. What a way to blow three perfectly good hours!
I've been at this mechanic game for 30+ years, and the sound of the flange plate grinding over the worn dampers was extremely convincing. I will be installing new dampers during my next tire change and obtaing a set of 'just in case' CBX bearings to put on the shelf, just in case.
Here's the story:
I began installing my TPMS this morning, and while re-balancing the wheel after installing the transmitter unit, I heard the dreaded sound of bearings grinding. DAMHIK I said. I spun the wheel the other way, and the noise was still there. I removed the wheel from my HF gravity balancer and began trying to spin the bearings by hand. Being somewhat panic'd, I didn't have all the grease off the the flange bearing, and thus I was unable to spin the flange bearings with my finger. Having suddenly lost all hope of finishing today, I sat down at the computer to look for solutions and availablity of new bearings.
Having no luck at finding bearings on a Sunday, I decided to clean and disassemble what I could (FWIW, the inside of the wheel/damper compartment was heavily coated with what appeared to be grease and burnt rubber pieces). Having gotten everything clean, I noticed that I could now spin the bearings and they felt fine. I reassembled everything, put it back on the gravity balancer and the noise was still there. I decided to check run out with the axle installed, and while installing the axle, I noticed significant play on the flange plate in relation to the wheel. While disassembling the flange plate, I heard a strange, funky bearing like noise. Upon disassembly, I discovered the flange plate was slipping/skipping against the worn dampners, making a noise very similiar to worn bearings. I made some temporary spacers from foam tape and reassembled everything. Perfect- no noise and the wheel balanced out very nicely. What a way to blow three perfectly good hours!
I've been at this mechanic game for 30+ years, and the sound of the flange plate grinding over the worn dampers was extremely convincing. I will be installing new dampers during my next tire change and obtaing a set of 'just in case' CBX bearings to put on the shelf, just in case.
