Expected Life of GQ Wheel Bearings???
Submitted: Wednesday, Jan 11, 2006 at 23:12
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Big Woody
Hi All,
Posting this for my best mate who does not have internet.
In a few weeks he is about to do an 8000km run to
Darwin and back in his 91 GQ Diesel. It has 290,000 k's on it and is probably one of the best maintained vehicles you'll ever see. (He's a very fussy mechanic).
He has rebuilt all of the front swivel hubs and replaced all the wheel bearings in the front end but would like to know what the expected life span to be for the rear wheel bearings.
There are no warning signs of any problems at the moment but being such a big job on the rear end of the Nissans should he bite the bullet and renew the rear wheel bearings before he goes or can he expect a much longer service life out of them yet.
Thanks guy's,
Brett
80 series T/D
Reply By: Bilbo - Wednesday, Jan 11, 2006 at 23:23
Wednesday, Jan 11, 2006 at 23:23
My Ford Maverick has done about 280,000 kms and shows no sign of any wheel bearing failure. Rear wheel bearing failure on any vehicle is uncommon these days. More so on a Nissan. The drivelines and axles on a GQ are built like a tank. The bearings and driveshafts are
well over engineered back and front.
And I used to be a truck mechanic!
I doubt he'll have a problem.
Bilbo
AnswerID:
147918
Reply By: Flash - Wednesday, Jan 11, 2006 at 23:33
Wednesday, Jan 11, 2006 at 23:33
I would concur on that.
My GQ is a '90 model, and although at least as
well looked after as your mates (by me), I have never bought a part for it ( including wheel bearings) other than filters, oil etc ( obviously the odd seal when I repack front bearings), plus things like upgraded
suspension, turbo and exhaust and such like. Oh, and many windscreens of course- about six or seven I think!!
There aint a better built vehicle.
AnswerID:
147923
Reply By: Truckster (Vic) - Thursday, Jan 12, 2006 at 01:23
Thursday, Jan 12, 2006 at 01:23
I changed
mine at 320,000 cause I fitted lockers. They were out and apart, so thats that.
They are a bitch to grease, and service, and even BIGGER organ to change. :(
AnswerID:
147939
Reply By: Snowy 3.0iTD - Thursday, Jan 12, 2006 at 08:31
Thursday, Jan 12, 2006 at 08:31
Big Woody
Wheel bearings, or roller bearings in general, rarely suffer from sudden catastrophic failure. It will generally start as a low vibration and slowly develop in to very noticable rumble. From when you start noticing it you may still have thousands or more k's before it collapses, but unless you are somewhere like the CSR then you will certainly have enough life left in them to make it to a major service centre.
Regards
Snowy
AnswerID:
147955
Reply By: warthog - Thursday, Jan 12, 2006 at 10:13
Thursday, Jan 12, 2006 at 10:13
My gu, same set up I believe, recently developed a oil leak at th L rear. It was a slow leak, but as I don't like oil leaks ( if I did I'd buy British ;-) ) I had it fixed. The bearings had to come of to fix the seals so as they are not a serviceable item I had them replaced while it was all apart. Agree with the advice above, mechanic said should hear a rumbling some time before a bearing let go, increased as you turn away from the affected side throwing more weight on it.
AnswerID:
147982
Reply By: bombsquad - Thursday, Jan 12, 2006 at 12:27
Thursday, Jan 12, 2006 at 12:27
My old MQ, probably with a similar set up? starded as a bit of a hum in the rear bearings, and it took a very long time until the noise became unbearable and replaced them. From memory, the inner bearing was in the diff housing and subsequently in an oil bath all of the time, wheras the outer was on the stub axle near the wheel. Not fun to change - did a bodgey and replaced the outer only and got rid of the noise. Are the GU rears a similar set-up
Cheers Andrew
AnswerID:
148012
Reply By: cokeaddict - Thursday, Jan 12, 2006 at 14:23
Thursday, Jan 12, 2006 at 14:23
My First GQ 1988 model, clocked 600,000 kms. No brg's touched on it. GQ's are tanks, only thing that can penetrate one is an anti tank missle.
My present GQ has just clocked 230,000, I got a full set of replacement brgs with it when i bought it, I think they will stay in that box for many years after the last GQ is seen.
Ange
AnswerID:
148037
Reply By: Austravel - Thursday, Jan 12, 2006 at 14:35
Thursday, Jan 12, 2006 at 14:35
Agree with all the above, my GQ certainly got used as a 4x4 and no dramas with bearings. The only drama which I'm told is quite common is that oil from the diff (rear) washed out the grease from the axle bearings. You'll only notice it when changing the diff oil unless there is an axle seal gone awol. Simply regrease the bearings while still on the axle and replace the inner seal. Only way to replace the outter seal is to remove (destroy) the bearings and they are far to expensive to do that. Even the Nissan dealer where I live does the same thing unless you really want to foot the bill for the new bearings. Was told it was almost unheard off to replace the rear bearings and almost as uncommon on the front.
AnswerID:
148044