Anybody use Bearing Buddies to protect rear split bearings?!

Chris_TDI_98

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2012
Location
Hartford, CT
TDI
1998 Jetta TDI 1.9L mk3 1Z AHU
These Bearing Buddies are pretty much standard issue equipment for utility trailers, campers, RVs, etc, that use split bearings on their axles.

Reason is because it helps you re-grease your bearing regularly without having to perform full on wheel removal bearing service which is overkill.

You get zero surprise moments when: “omg my wheel fell off on the highway when my rear bearing failed because it was low on grease I didn’t know it and it overheated and self destructed”

How it works is you screw your grease gun hose onto the fitting o the Bearing buddy, and fill it up with grease. As often as you want. If it can’t take more geese then it’s full of grease, which is good.

VW has used split bearings on rear axle since almost forever, and only evolved to a tougher single piece non-split rear wheel bearing on golf/Jetta/etc mk4 and newer.

Anybody use this Bearing Buddy on their b4, mk3, mk2, or mk1 to maximize the life of your rear wheel bearing ?? I often tow a trailer and put 200 pounds on the tongue and the vw split rear wheel bearings really don’t like it too much, you can tell they’re a bit strained, and any momentary lack of grease will result in bearing failure and rear wheel coming off the car!!



 
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oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
I have put over 400k miles on a car with the original tapered rear wheel bearings intact, and probably a million more collectively over the years. You are in search of a problem to fit a solution. And the problem doesn't exist.

Your car will rust away into its basic elements (or be stolen :rolleyes: ) long before you need to worry about redesigning the rear wheel bearings.

The reason those work with trailers, or are even wanted, is because there are no brakes to worry about getting grease on and/or they are on a boat trailer that routinely gets submerged in water and needs the fresh grease pushed through with regularity.

You also won'y hear a bearing going bad on a trailer like you would in a car. So an extra level of protection is a good idea on a trailer.

None of my trailers have these. I've never lost a bearing. And doubt I ever will.
 
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Chris_TDI_98

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Jul 19, 2012
Location
Hartford, CT
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1998 Jetta TDI 1.9L mk3 1Z AHU
I’ve lost my rear passenger side bearing twice in two years.
1. First time (probably the 18 yr old original oem bearing with 240,000 miles) I think because it was overloaded, back seat and trunk were full, struts were bottomed our, went over some jarring bumps on highway at 65 mph. No suspension = direct hot to the little thin bearing.
2. Second time was 2 yrs later. After 2 yrs normal driving on the new bearing. Bad bumps in roads and bottomed out suspension from driving a fully loaded trunk and back seat.
3. The bearing end dust cap just popped off and fell off on the road exposing the end of stub axle to the elements...
Time for a bearing buddy ?!
 

KLXD

Top Post Dawg
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Aug 22, 2009
Location
Lompoc, CA
TDI
'98, '2 Jettas
Sounds like the buddy your bearings need is an owner who doesn't overload his vehicle.
 

Ol'Rattler

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Joined
Jul 3, 2007
Location
PNA
TDI
2006 BRM Jetta
Bearing Buddies sound like a great way to lubricate your brakes. Oh yea. Properly performed maintenance in a timely manner is such a bother.

Another genius idea. To get the most life out of your serpentine belt, just run it until if fails.
If you had the foresight to spend the $300 or so for this and install it, your timing belt won't get destroyed from the broken serpentine belt getting sucked into the timing belt path.

 

Chris_TDI_98

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2012
Location
Hartford, CT
TDI
1998 Jetta TDI 1.9L mk3 1Z AHU
Sounds like the buddy your bearings need is an owner who doesn't overload his vehicle.
Sarcasm aside...
For real, I have about 100 pounds in the trunk.
And about 300 pounds in back seat.
Is this “overloaded” ??
 
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oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
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There are just too many to list....
Yes, that is overloaded.

They make these things called "pickup trucks". They are quite popular. I have one. Love it.
 

Chris_TDI_98

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Jul 19, 2012
Location
Hartford, CT
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1998 Jetta TDI 1.9L mk3 1Z AHU
I think I should probably upgrade the rear struts to something more heavy duty??
There’s a thread on here where turbodieseldyke swapped/upgraded her rear struts to Passat B4 rear struts, only a minor mod was needed to add a hole for the top mounting plate to fit, and ended up with a few inches of lift.
What’s you guys’ opinion of the rear strut situation?
 

Steve Addy

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 7, 2002
Location
Iowa
TDI
97 Mk3
I'd be more inclined to get a system where ride height sensors and a pneumatic pump take care of keeping the car level. This type of setup is nice because you don't have to worry about the car looking silly when nothing is loaded and the rear end is sitting high or having a car with extra harsh rear springs.

There was one available for the B3V back when it was built back in the 90's. I tried to buy one but was unsuccessful. In the end it didn't matter because I don't anticipate hauling anything of consequence with this. But the auto leveling is a




You can probably buy the Bilstein HD struts and upgrade the rear coil springs to deal with heavier loads. I find that the Mk3 suspensions were pretty mushy in the rear anyway, at least from a coil spring standpoint, the rear struts tend to go very quickly, and further we have no idea how old the suspension is on your car.

Suspensions (in the general population) tend to be ignored forever. On here we typically replace components before other things start to go bad. I think overall this forum represents the best of vehicle maintenance.

Steve
 

Chris_TDI_98

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Jul 19, 2012
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Hartford, CT
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1998 Jetta TDI 1.9L mk3 1Z AHU
Ride height has nothing to do with struts, but rather the springs. The struts provide dampening.
Thank you! I did not know that it was so simple. Learned something new. Very cool.
I need stiffer springs then.
And shocks to match.
Can I just get generic NEW springs and shocks, as long as they fit the physical size constraints, and have the correct size threads at the top, or mounting hole at the bottom?!
Where would you go about determining the target spring rate, and select spring and shock??
 

Chris_TDI_98

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Joined
Jul 19, 2012
Location
Hartford, CT
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1998 Jetta TDI 1.9L mk3 1Z AHU
I just completed (yesterday) replacing the passenger side split rear wheel bearing.
Used a german brand FAG bearing set this time for highest expected longevity.
Source from eeuroparts in windsor.
LESSONS LEARNED:

When removing the old bearing race with a dremel and diamond cutting wheel, and a cold (steel cutting) chisel, and the new bearing doesn't want to get all the way onto the stub axle, you've caused there to be bumps in the surface of the stub axle and you must remove them first.

You have to go over the surface of the stub axle with either a metal file, or use a dremel tool with small pink rotary stone attachment.
When the new bearing goes on smoothly, you're done grinding/filing, and ready to mount the new bearing in the drum onto the stub axle!
 

ToddA1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 3, 2011
Location
NJ 08002
TDI
'96 B4V, '97 B4 (sold), '97 Jetta (scrapped)
I’ve always knocked the races out with a hammer and chisel or screwdriver. Never needed a Dremel, and I’ve never filed the stub axles.

-Todd
 

Tdipower86

Active member
Joined
Feb 15, 2019
Location
Suffolk,Va
TDI
98 Jetta AHU, 03 golf tdi ALH
I had to do the same repair in a auto part store while traveling and had to find a shop near by to heat the race to get it off the stub. Now I carry a extra stub and bearings already packed and ready to go. I had 300lbs of gear for work in the trunk and think I side loaded a little to hard in the turns.
 

RoseBud68

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 16, 2016
Location
PSL FL
TDI
'99 mk3 Jetta 1.9
I just completed (yesterday) replacing the passenger side split rear wheel bearing.
Used a german brand FAG bearing set this time for highest expected longevity.
Source from eeuroparts in windsor.
LESSONS LEARNED:

When removing the old bearing race with a dremel and diamond cutting wheel, and a cold (steel cutting) chisel, and the new bearing doesn't want to get all the way onto the stub axle, you've caused there to be bumps in the surface of the stub axle and you must remove them first.

You have to go over the surface of the stub axle with either a metal file, or use a dremel tool with small pink rotary stone attachment.
When the new bearing goes on smoothly, you're done grinding/filing, and ready to mount the new bearing in the drum onto the stub axle!
WOW just WOW. With all the videos out there that would show you how to do the job right...you resulted in using a Dremal....

Note: For others that may read this, This Is NOT how its done.
 

Chris_TDI_98

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Joined
Jul 19, 2012
Location
Hartford, CT
TDI
1998 Jetta TDI 1.9L mk3 1Z AHU
WOW just WOW. With all the videos out there that would show you how to do the job right...you resulted in using a Dremal....

Note: For others that may read this, This Is NOT how its done.

I checked out plenty of videos.

None showed what to do to get a seized inner race off the stub axle.
Heat with a propane torch for 10 minutes didn't work.
Cutting thru with a dremel did cut part the way thru, yet it didn't completely get thru, the race remained stuck.
Hitting with chisel and hammer was finally able to break the race off the stub.
Yet the stub surface was uneven.
The new race/bearing didn't want to get on the stub!
A mechanic said to use a file or a dremel with rotary stone to grind out any bumps on the surface of the stub until the new bearing fit on smoothly.
That's what we did, stub became smooth enough for new bearing to finally get on the stub, problem solved!
 

KLXD

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 22, 2009
Location
Lompoc, CA
TDI
'98, '2 Jettas
I've used an abrasive wheel in a Dremmel to cut a slot in a bearing race that I can't get under many times. Often it cracks on its own, sometimes a chisel in the groove is required to help it. Nothing wrong with that as long as you don't cut into the shaft.

One wonders why the stub wasn't smooth. Did the inner race wear into it? Did you put some chisel marks in it?
 

ToddA1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 3, 2011
Location
NJ 08002
TDI
'96 B4V, '97 B4 (sold), '97 Jetta (scrapped)
None showed what to do to get a seized inner race off the stub axle.
I misread your post, although it wasn’t 100% clear. I thought you were removing the race from the drum.

Personally, I’d be more worried about the freeze plugs...

I've used an abrasive wheel in a Dremmel to cut a slot in a bearing race that I can't get under many times. Often it cracks on its own, sometimes a chisel in the groove is required to help it. Nothing wrong with that as long as you don't cut into the shaft.

This seems to be my normal procedure for the front hubs. Partially cut through the inner race, then crack it with a chisel. Even if I cut into the hub, I’m not worried. The hub is a compression fit. If it spins in the race, something is wrong and the bearing will soon fail.

-Todd
 

Chris_TDI_98

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2012
Location
Hartford, CT
TDI
1998 Jetta TDI 1.9L mk3 1Z AHU
One wonders why the stub wasn't smooth. Did the inner race wear into it? Did you put some chisel marks in it?
The old inner bearing (race or seat?) somehow got stuck to the stub. Possibly from over heating while in service. The bearing set also self destructed. I have the shredded up parts and pictures if you want to see.
As far as chisel marks, the chisel was used to put the last crack into the dremel'ed bearing seat, and then it came off. I still have that piece too! Yes the chisel put some texture bumps into the stub, needed grinding smooth.
 
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