[schmiffee]

Well I (with the aid of my mechanical brother in law) have only just recently replaced the rear wheel bearings and this has been great until the last few days when, on any slight right-hand corner (weighting the left side of the car), I hear a whirring sound - similar to running over the road-edge warning markers (but softer). This is only happening on the left and not the right. It has been raining a heap here of late - I don't know if that could have anything to do with it.

Any ideas as to what to look for? What it could be? Any advice/suggestions welcome...

[GeckoXL7]

This is only a suggestion, but may not be the problem as havent done rear yet and hope i dont have too

Try jacking up the rear of the car and seeing if there is any play/ movement in the wheel, eg grab top and bottom then left and right and see if you can tilt the wheel back and forth, if a wheel bearing is good there shouldn't be any movement. Suzuki Limit is .8mm anything over that is a faulty bearing.

Also reading service manual was grease applied to the bearing oil retainer seals and how was the seals? and was sealant put in between the bearing retainer and brake back plate?

another thought, choke the front wheels jack left wheel of the ground, hand brake off and see if you can remove the brake drum easily, if its too hard brake shoes may need to be adjusted and while its off see if there is any oil leaking in there. Sometimes it can be stuck so using two 8mm bolts in the small holes will pop the drum off but it should go back on with out rubbing on the shoes.

Suzuki fault diag says.

Noise while turning: Damaged diff, side bearings or axle bearings.
Noise while coasting: Damaged bearings or Bevel pinion
Constant noise: Inadequate lubricant or water in the oil.

[droverdave]

How did you set the tension on the wheel bearing nut?

sounds to me like whatever you did you didnt do something up tight enough, and there is still clearance in the beraing that shouldnt be there.

[royce]

I had the same, it was a front bearing so it pays to have a good look around first

[atari4x4]

droverdave wrote:

How did you set the tension on the wheel bearing nut?

there is no tensioner nut on rear wheel bearings.

[schmiffee]

Ok, so I am finally going to get these ordered tomorrow - $190 for both sides. So hopefully this will fix this and it doesn't turn into something else. While I am there, I have seen a few on here with these thingy's on the front....

Attachment:

Hub Thingys.jpg

...would it be advantageous to fit these?? What do they do?? (Sorry - a complete 4WD noob!)

I have to special order the bearings through Global Auto anyway, so there will probably be a coupla days wait anyway....

[atari4x4]

they're free wheeling hubs, the GV's have drive flanges so the CV's & some of front diff internals are spinning the whole time even when not in 4wd creating unnecessary drag & wear. by fitting FWH's to the front of a GV will give you a slight increase in fuel economy & the added bonus of not wearing wearing out such things as the CV boots etc. you will have to get out of the car & engage the hubs & then shift the transfer into 4wd, where as before it was just shift & go.

personally i'd chase up a pair from a vitara & fit them as they're a better product than the AMV, they're easily rebuild-able & look nicer as they're a factory fitted item. if you do buy some 2nd hand ones make sure you get the bolts that hold them on & the cone washers.

there is some great tech in this thread on how to recon the stock FWH, page 2 has a vid on the vitara ones viewtopic.php?f=17&t=20086

[mnemonix]

When I experience a funny noise, especially whining from the left hand side of the car it normally turns out to be the missus in the passenger seat.
Do you still experience the noise when you're driving solo?

[Lockie666]

mnemonix wrote:

When I experience a funny noise, especially whining from the left hand side of the car it normally turns out to be the missus in the passenger seat.
Do you still experience the noise when you're driving solo?

I was going to say the same thing.

[schmiffee]

Yeah but maybe she's nagged so much it's all in the sub-conscious!! Yeah those AVM piccies were just some generic ones I got from eBay to represent what I was talking about - rather than some weird-ass description I could try to give Thanks for the advice though...should I wait until I have them to do the bearings? (easier to do the two jobs at once)? Or much-of-a-muchness? (do bearings and then free wheeling hubs later)?

[atari4x4]

Get the noise sorted first, then keep an eye on for someone wrecking a Vitara, should be able to pick up a set of vit FWH's for $50-80 & give them a birthday as per that thread in good tech.

Once reco'd it's literally a remove & replace. The the drive flanges you remove to fit the FWH's can be sold off as they're sort after by people doing the full floater rear diffs, pretty sure they're going for similar money as what the FWH sell for. So it's a win win situation.

[schmiffee]

Cool thanks! Exactly what I was wanting to know