DeTomaso Mailing List: September 2000, Message #62

Some months ago there was a post about the stock back wheel bearings and how
to check them to see if they were potentially ready to fail.   Some of the
posts said checking the wheel for play was a good test.  But someone said
that every time they had a bearing fail, the wheel would be tight, feel OK
and then the bearing would suddenly fail without warning.

I've had a very, very small amount of play in the drivers side axle for the
last two years and the passenger side has been tight.  So every few weeks
I've been checking both axles for play and found no change.   I figured with
the wheel play that I would most likely need to replace the axle anyhow.
I've been deciding on what bearing solution I was going to use, so I didn't
want to pull it apart until I was ready with the new bearings.  As I could
not see any change in the play, even with a dial indicator, I figured that
it would be OK for awhile.   Wrong!

Last week I noticed an intermittent rubbing sound when I turned, like a
small stone under the brake pad.  It was the very inside edge of the
passenger side rotor (luckily not the part where the brake pad rides)
rubbing one of the caliper mount lugs on the upright.   The wheel is still
tight and has no play but apparently under side load the bearing is letting
the axle move in so that the rotor will rub lightly on the upright.   Lucky
for me that the caliper is spaced so that it just misses the rotor surface
when the rotor hits the upright.

I'm planning to install the new roller bearing system that Dick Koch has
designed that requires no machining of the upright and has a separate seal
for the outside and inside bearing.  I'll get some photos of the upgrade and
put them on the web site.

Mike Dailey
http://www.PanteraPlace.com



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