rear pass. wheel crunch noise

[dreamer420]

so yesterday my car developed a kind of crunching, grinding noise in the rear passenger wheel area. It's not a consitant sound, and only happens when im moving at slower speeds. highway speeds it makes no noise.

today ive removed the wheel and rotor, etc. parking brake is not stuck and the wheel does not spin when in gear (rear is off ground)
I cant spin the hub by hand either, other than maybe 2 inches back and forth.
what could this be?

[YeOldeBuggy]

You do have the car in neutral right? If so, it sounds like you have a wheel bearing that is T-totally fucked.

Thad.

[dreamer420]

yea car is in neutral when i try to spin with my hands. do wheel bearing just go out like that? instantly? 2 days ago there were no problems back there...

[YeOldeBuggy]

It might not have made a noise before hand, its either a wheel bearing, or your differential, but if you drove the car, I doubt that. Do you have an lsd?

Thad.

[dreamer420]

no lsd, just open diff but it is 'newer', has fresh oil, etc. driver side wheel spins fine when i have it on and in gear.
driver side does not move, and the rotor is off so im also counting on it being a wheel bearing... how hard of a job is that? i did a manual swap in my garage with hand tools so I feel experienced enough to try

[YeOldeBuggy]

Ewww, if its not lsd, and the drivers side spins while the passenger side doesn't, maybe your rear is boned? Maybe someone a little more enlightened than me will chime in. I'm not super knowledgeable about the rear of the car, I was just speculating

Thad.

[dreamer420]

yea i know....open diff....
I also thought open diff spun the pass. side wheel?
well nothing looks out of place or loose, anyone else have any ideas? if its wheel bearing im going to order one today.

[Sagaris]

I would suggest disconnecting the inboard portion of the drive axle and having a helper support it horizontally so you can rotate the hub assembly with just the drag of the wheel bearing. Listen and feel, even use a stethoscope .

If it ends up being a wheel bearing then don't fret, Doing the rear wheel bearing isn't the end of the world like a lot of people make it seem to be. You just need to be prepared for the worst and have an appropriate tool for installing the bearing (can be made out of a piece of threaded rod for under $10)

[dreamer420]

thanks for the help, I definately will disconnect the axle and try that. if its not that, should i assume its the diff next? if so ill just swap my stock one back in. (this ones the same ratio...)
im not too worried about doing the bearing if have to, I feel pretty confident in my abilities on this car.

[dreamer420]

ok, axle disconnected and off from the diff, hub still incredibly hard to turn (can turn it with leverage and a lot of elbow grease). driver side is easy to spin and is still fully connected.
no stethoscope around... cant hear much but it feels like its grinding, chunky feeling?

[YeOldeBuggy]

Definitely a fucked wheel bearing, hopefully no other damage, but i m still at a loss as to why the drivers side turns and the passenger side doesn't. I thought only lsds allow one wheel to turn separate of the other.

Thad.

[Sagaris]

Just for reference, I just installed a new right rear wheel bearing (time didnt permit me to do the other side) The old bearing was replaced because it was noisy when turning left. I still have a fraction of the noise which might be the diff bearings, but that's not where I am going with this :P.

What I wanted to tell you though, is that even with the new wheel bearing in, I tried turning the hub with the axle connected to the diff (open diff) and in neutral and it was quite a lot harder to rotate than I would have thought. If someone handed me the old bearing (which was obviously bad) and the new bearing and I could only spin them and play with them in my hand, I would not be able to tell which one was new and which one was old. As soon as I had the car buttoned back together and on the road though, the new one was much quieter. So you can't always tell by feel whether one is good or bad, but in your case it sounds like you can because of how chunky it is when you turn it, especially in comparison to the other side.
FYI, Autozone sells Timken reaer wheel bearings for $54 each. They are actually FAG bearings ( ) which is what came stock on the car. You simply can't beat that price for a high quality bearing.

[jlevie]

It really sounds like you have a destroyed bearing. Replace both the bearings on both sides.

[dreamer420]

unfortunately im too broke to afford 2 bearings at the moment, I've ordered one for now.
what sort of bad things might happen if i drive on this until the new bearing gets here in a few days?

[Sagaris]

I guess the worst thing that could happen is your rear wheel seizes up, you crash into a toxic waste transport vehicle , die, and disease runs rampant through the country.

Noisy wheel bearings have been known to last many months + without having problems but yours sounds worse. In any case I would try and avoid driving the car unless you have no other option, you are at least taking care of the problem as soon as you are able to.