T4 rear bearing diagnosis

[teranfirbt]

I would consider any play in the wheel bearing to be a cause to replace it. I replaced the rear bearings in mine recently, the right side was completely toast. The left side felt fine, but when I pulled the axle out I found more bearing grease in the axle housing than in the bearing.

[TominMO]

Yesterday I went to Lowe's and bought a roll of foam rubber to put under carpets (6'x9', $30). Used it to fill the cavities under the rear seat, and in the areas behind the rear wheelwells. I also put a layer under the carpeting in the trunk area. Today I took it out for a drive, and it is definitely quieter; none of that drumming I had before. I can now hear the rear end much better, without the body-cavity drumming to confuse the issue. I need to do the rear-seat passenger test to confirm, but it seems like the pass. side axle making the noise. But now I am less worried about it since it is so much quieter! This car will probably only ever see city streets this winter, so I am not too worried about replacing the bearings anytime soon. Next spring seems like soon enough.

I had plenty of carpet foam left over, so I used it in my Ford Aspire too. Also a big improvement.

[Petros]

An interesting observation: I was over at the local Pick n Pull getting a few parts off of a '86 T4wd that show up a few weeks ago. the drivers side rear axl bearing felt good, so I pulled the axle, the bearing was good. The passanger side felt good, but also had some in-and-out play like you described. I pulled that axle and found the bearing junk, the race was all wobbly on the bearing, full of rust too. Odd it felt smooth when I just turned the axle. I think the passanger size bearings, both front and rear fail much more often because they get beat up with side impacts when parking next to a curb. ONce the race gets dents, it will slowly grind it away. I have gotten well over 300k miles on the driver side bearings, but have seen the passenger side fail at under half that.

[TominMO]

That is interesting. Lends further evidence that my pass. side bearing is bad. Might jump into it after all, before it gets cold.