Wheel bearing went out and my wheel locked up at 40 mph. Almost rolled my BII!

[holeshot]

I was driving to work and all of the sudden the front drivers side wheel just locked up and put me sideways at 40 mph. I dont know how I saved it, but a 6" lifted BII with 33's going sideways on pavement is scary! I thought it was gonna roll. I am just lucky that no one was in the other lane because it pulled me right over into the oncoming traffic lane.

Found out both wheel bearings are destroyed and when the wheel locked up it spun the nut on the spindle, taking it out too.

I will fix it, but now I am afraid to even drive the thing on the highway for fear this might happen again.

Has anyone else had issues with the front wheel bearings going out? I imagine the 10" wide rims arent helping them, but I only put about 1500 miles on the thing with the lift & wheels & tires.

 

[country0001]

That kind of stuff wakes u up, don't it. U should of heard a squeaking noise that warned u of the bearings. This will just make u more aware of ur vehicle and what its tellin u. When was the last time u packed ur bearings?

 

[Mudhound]

I had a similar incident last year. I was coming out of a curve, on the throttle, at about 40-45, when the driver's side tire came off right before you exit the curve ( you are starting to straighten the wheel back out, but it is still turned at this point).After looking at everything, the only thing that I could figure out was the the lugnuts had backed off, since 3 (!) of the steel inserts on the aluminum wheel where MISSING. The irony of this whole mess was that I came to a stop in the driveway of a CEMETARY.
Good job keeping it together, man.

 

[holeshot]

That kind of stuff wakes u up, don't it. U should of heard a squeaking noise that warned u of the bearings. This will just make u more aware of ur vehicle and what its tellin u. When was the last time u packed ur bearings?

There really wasnt much of a warning. I would have noticed for sure...it just all of the sudden failed on me.

The bearings were packed when the gears were replaced....about 1500 miles ago.

Definitely was a wake up call. I think I am going to buy a 4wd that is reliable and wont put my life or anyone elses lives in danger.

 

[heptofite]

the B2 doesn't have a reliability problem in regards to wheel bearings, what's the offset on your wheels? if you have the wrong offset, you'll ruin your bearings quickly.

simply put, you modified the vehicle, if you did so incorrectly, you caused this.

not trying to be a dick, but thems the breaks.

 

[mudcrazy]

I know when mine start to back off I can feel some brake fade like it takes more brake to slow you down, as well as may wonder abit more than usual. I pull it in my garage and check bearings for grease and retighten them to specs. I do this every time I get back from offroading as well.

 

[Andres629]

if you have the wrong offset, you'll ruin your bearings quickly.

This. It'll getcha. My Ranger did that when I first bought it too. When I bought it, it needed ball joints. I was just going to do wheel bearings myself, but figured since they had it apart, they could just replace the wheel bearings at the same time. About a month and a half later, they blew out on me while going down the road. Made me angry since a SHOP did it. Did both side wheel bearings again myself, and haven't had a problem since.

As has been said, make sure you check them semi-regularly, and everything will last a lot longer.

 

[holeshot]

the B2 doesn't have a reliability problem in regards to wheel bearings, what's the offset on your wheels? if you have the wrong offset, you'll ruin your bearings quickly.

simply put, you modified the vehicle, if you did so incorrectly, you caused this.

not trying to be a dick, but thems the breaks.

I know youre not trying to be a dick, lol. Yeah, I know I brought this on myself...but I was just trying to figure if this is a common problem on TTB front ends with wide rims and big tires, and if there is a way to fix this or prevent it from eating bearings all the time.

offset is -46mm.

 

[LittleHorse]

I had that happen on a Datsun 280Z, bearing actually melted with the nut and the end of the spindle into one solid molten piece. Low enough vehicle that it wasn't much chance of rolling but it pulled left HARD and it was everything I could do to pull it to the right and get off the road...once I stopped it froze solid and wouldn't move, and what grease was remaining burst into flames, the grease cup had come off. It was an interesting experience to say the least.

 

[trail B2]

I don't know hole shot I would count myself lucky you were up to the challenge of keeping it on it's wheels.I hav'nt heard that this is a problem area on these RBVs it could probably happen on most 4x4s that perform well off road.What I think about would a soft spring more flexible suspension that lets the body roll be harder to keep upright in just a situation like that.Big flex is cool but I would sure sure hate to ride that out on the super soft springs and no sway bars that comes with good flexing.

 

[freerider6_9]

This kind of failure is usually due to improper technique when adjusting the bearings. The number one cause of premature failure is over tightening of the bearing causing to much preload on the bearing. Specs on this are actually 0.02-0.08 mm or 0.001-0.003 of an inch of ENDPLAY when you are finished your adjustment, yes I mean loose. This is due to the fact that when the whole assembly(bearings,races,rotor etc) get hot they expand taking up that play. Not many people no this nor will it ever cause an issue if you dont drive long distances at highway speeds very often as they will never really heat up.

Glad your okay