325i Catastrophic Wheel Bearing Failure

[97alpineM3]

Occurred while going about 60mph. A tow was in order there after.







A little damage from what looks like some idiot with a jack.



The entire right side of the car seems to be either frame bent or some type of horrible tow with the hook in the back right...



I cant tell. I think the right rear trailing arm is bent... putting more strain on the bearing which ended up failing.

Does the trailing arm look bent???

Thanks for looking... and opinions are very welcome.

Les

[97alpineM3]

Or maybe the constant velocity joint as I'm being told........

Les

[Teaguer]

Yes that is the CV joint that gave way .

From the looks of that fluid all over the diff it might not be far behind .
Where is the driveshaft ?

[Jand3rson]

Damn! I'm curious, how did your bearing get to the point where it failed that severly without you knowing about it?

[97alpineM3]

There was a slight hummmm... to the right rear... it started getting a lot louder on a road trip... I was ten miles from safty... so I pushed it out... knowing the fix would be cheap... I wasnt worried about it..

It failed... now its broke... and it is a cheap fix... depending on if a new trailing arm fixes the problem.

As for the diff... she is good.. its the imput seal from the drive shaft that is leaking... I just have not had the time to clean it and order the parts...


Les

[kommissar]

Check this Out

As for the diff... she is good.. its the imput seal from the drive shaft that is leaking... I just have not had the time to clean it and order the parts...

I am not trying to say that you are incapable of doing this job yourself, but I just want to caution you, as well as give some good advice that I got last month...

I was going to attempt this job myself when I did my output shaft seals on my diff but my mechanic (who is the best guy in the world when it comes to asking advice about these things) suggested otherwise.

The nut is that holds on the input flange is very tight. I don't know the exact number, but it is something ridiculous like 100-180 N·m. I'd also imagine that the shaft would want to spin as you take this nut off.

The tightening procedure can also cause problems. You have to torque it down to a value greater than what I wrote above and then back it off to spec. This is sometimes difficult with older differentials because the parts that are designed to crush when tightened are worn out. If it cannot be tightened properly, part of the diff needs to be rebuilt.

Be careful, my friend.