Wheel bearing explosion

[DaveB]

I had to go rescue my son's jeep last night after he left a massive skid mark on 4700 South. He was heading home from SLCC when his left front wheel locked up at 45. When I got there I found that one of his wheel bearings had exploded. This axle is a HP F250 Dana 44 with chevy outers. The wheel bearings were replaced about a year ago when we built the axle. The inner wheel bearing and grease looks as good as the day we installed it but the outer bearing is a mess. The bearings came completely out of the race, the bearing cage is mangled, and the center race is "welded" to the spindle. The grease around the bearing is black as tar. I haven't wiped off the bearings to see if I can find any clues as to why the bearing failed. I would think that if the bearings had been tightened too much that the inner bearing would have shown problems too. Any ideas as to what might have gone wrong ? It has driven very well for a year now.
I'm glad he didn't lose the bearing down in Moab two weekends ago. He now has a bad front BFG Mud tire that thumps going down the road since he wore a bunch off of it.

 

[waynehartwig]

Wow! Glad he's ok!! No ideas from me...

How tight did you make it when you put it together? The only thing I can think of is the locking nut came undone, tightened up, got hot, lost grease and wore out quickly. But you're right, that doesn't explain why the inner didn't go, or at least lost it's grease.

 

[Gravy]

scary! glad he is ok

 

[DaveB]

Wow! Glad he's ok!! No ideas from me...

How tight did you make it when you put it together? The only thing I can think of is the locking nut came undone, tightened up, got hot, lost grease and wore out quickly. But you're right, that doesn't explain why the inner didn't go, or at least lost it's grease.

I torqued it to spec and set it up like I have done many times. The inner locking nut was missing the small pin that locks the inner nut to the indexing key that is between the two nuts but since the nut was damaged when the bearing failed I don't know if the pin was gone and allowed the nut to tighten or if the pin was sheared off when things broke. The spring that pushes out on the hub was sucked into the bearing but I don't know if that was caused by the failure. I am also glad that he didn't lose control since he is lifted 8.5 inches on a custom long arm setup that I designed for him. I guess I did alright on the design of the long arms since he controlled it just fine.

 

[chans]

That's crazy. My brother's Ford HP D60 did the same exact thing. Welded the inner race to the spindle and melted the rest. It happened about a year after the axle was built. His was making noises and the wheel fell off as he pulled into his parking spot at work. We came to the conclusion that the nut loosened and put on a Stage 8 lock nut on the spindle because when we put on a new spindle, rotor and bearings after it was fixed it started making the same noises a week later and it was loose.

 

[bryson]

Does it use Chevy parts from the knuckles out, or is it a Ford spindle with Chevy wheel hubs? If it is the Ford spindle and Chevy hubs, I know there is a special bearing you need to use to make that fit...? If it wasn't the proper bearing that'd explain the 'splosion...

 

[DaveB]

Does it use Chevy parts from the knuckles out, or is it a Ford spindle with Chevy wheel hubs? If it is the Ford spindle and Chevy hubs, I know there is a special bearing you need to use to make that fit...? If it wasn't the proper bearing that'd explain the 'splosion...

It uses all chevy parts including the knuckles.

 

[DaveB]

That's crazy. My brother's Ford HP D60 did the same exact thing. Welded the inner race to the spindle and melted the rest. It happened about a year after the axle was built. His was making noises and the wheel fell off as he pulled into his parking spot at work. We came to the conclusion that the nut loosened and put on a Stage 8 lock nut on the spindle because when we put on a new spindle, rotor and bearings after it was fixed it started making the same noises a week later and it was loose.

I'm not familiar with a stage 8 lock nut ? Did your brother's axle have the pin on the inner bearing adjusting nut and the lock ring ? If those are missing or not lined up properly the nut could come loose.

 

[Tacoma]

The Stage 8 system is a locking nut setup that has no chance of loosening. They also make locking header bolts, using a clever washer that won't let it back out.

http://stage8.com/ click "offroad", neat diagram of the spindle nut right there.

 

[chans]

I'm not familiar with a stage 8 lock nut ? Did your brother's axle have the pin on the inner bearing adjusting nut and the lock ring ? If those are missing or not lined up properly the nut could come loose.

I don't remember if it had a pin since it was awhile ago but I don't think it did. I really like the Stage 8 nut and need to pick some up for my axle even though they are kind of a pain to get back off.

 

[DaveB]

The Stage 8 system is a locking nut setup that has no chance of loosening. They also make locking header bolts, using a clever washer that won't let it back out.

http://stage8.com/ click "offroad", neat diagram of the spindle nut right there.

That looks interresting, may have to look into one if we keep on having trouble.

 

[Grim]

maybe the grease used was way to thick

 

[DaveB]

maybe the grease used was way to thick

I used some Lucas wheel bearing grease which isn't that thick. I'm going to clean up whats left of the bad bearing to see what I can figure out from it. I'm leaning towards a failure of the locking spacer and lock pin on the inner adjusting nut that allowed things to get out of tolerance.

 

[rondo]

dave i found that going from a 35 to a 37 (with heavy beadlock) tended to loosen up my front end quickly and i had to retighten that stuff a few times. i learned to check for wheel bearing slop every time i went wheeling as part of the 'ritual'.

I also had the same thing happen when i ran a dana 44 front. destroyed one side and a couple of wheeling days in moab. after that i brought a whole spare outer, bearings, spindle, etc
it gets old when you're eventually carrying what amounts to a whole spare vehicle just to go wheeling
i've since replaced with dana 60 and i'm kind of wondering if having a spare outer and spindle isn't a good idea for that too but 60 parts aren't darn near next to free like d44 parts?

 

[DaveB]

dave i found that going from a 35 to a 37 (with heavy beadlock) tended to loosen up my front end quickly and i had to retighten that stuff a few times. i learned to check for wheel bearing slop every time i went wheeling as part of the 'ritual'.

I also had the same thing happen when i ran a dana 44 front. destroyed one side and a couple of wheeling days in moab. after that i brought a whole spare outer, bearings, spindle, etc
it gets old when you're eventually carrying what amounts to a whole spare vehicle just to go wheeling
i've since replaced with dana 60 and i'm kind of wondering if having a spare outer and spindle isn't a good idea for that too but 60 parts aren't darn near next to free like d44 parts?

Yeah I have a few spares which is what I used to get it home. The 60s have the same locking nut arangement so some spares might be good. I've never had one of these do this before on the 60s and 44s that I have. I did clean up the bearings, hub and spindle last night and I will be replacing most of it. The outer bearing got so hot that six of the bearings are melted together. The race had to be cut off the spindle since it was galled in place. The outer race spun in the hub and damaged the hub. The bearing cage had the bottom lip ground off. The Warn hub was also messed up a bit but may be fixable. Its off to Six States after work to buy a bunch of parts.