Makes ya really wonder why we bother with old cars eh Ash

Must be wagons mate.... I have replaced most of the front suspension components now and this happens.......it has freaked me out a little.
Normally I would jump onto ebay or head down to Repco and pick up required parts and fix the thing myself. Now I'm starting to thing that it's just not worth the risk. Like I said, things could have turned out so much worse today. Time to hand the wagon over to the professionals from now on.......I couldn't live with myself if a component failure which could have been picked up by a licenced mechanic was missed by me and the result was the loss of a family member or other innocent party.

Wow! Glad to hear your wife was fine.

Thats unusual for one to fail like that. How old was it? Wasn't noisy? Maybe a faulty one.

Simple mechanical failures that a brand new car can have.
I dont mean to be a a*** here and please dont take it as I am being one but stuff like this is the reason why I do tend to go a bit silly when working on cars.
One thing I have noticed on here is a lot of members seem to work on the principle of fix it when it breaks not before it does.
In all seriousness its not dear to pull the front end down and replace everything one parts starts failing. If one bit lets go and the car has some k's on it the rest of the stuff is soon to follow.
Pull it down once and have it off the road once. Do new ball joints , wheel bearings , tie rod ends and boots , get the discs machined and throw a new set of pads in.
Fully reco uprights from my local suspension place cost $220 for both sides. Wheel bearings $27 a side. $30 to machine the discs and $70 for a new set of Bendix HD pads. $23 a side for tie rod ends and $11 a side for rack boots. Change the links pins and bushes while you have it apart.
Ok it will cost around $400 for everything done but the whole front end is then good for another 150000kms and you have piece of mind.
Old cars dont really need more maintenance in my opinion then a new car but you just have to keep on top of s**t before it breaks. People say it is dead money putting ti into an old car but if you like it and its reliable as a rule its really not dead money and is cheaper then a new car by the time you take servicing , depreciation and interest payments on a new car into account.
Not being a a*** Mick but I can see how everyone is a bit shaken up by what happened but any car can fail. Just have to keep on top of it with an older one.

Had no hint it was about to go. No noise, was only inspected for rego about 1 month ago, from which I had to replace the tie rod ends, but other than that it has been fine. I was amazed at how much the bearing was flogged out.
I would have to dig up the previous owner's build thread as to when they may have been changed.....I know he changed the front discs at some stage as there is a niggling issue with the ABS which he warned me about when I bought it.....something about the discs on it not being ABS compatable???

Old cars eh! comes with the territory I think! Gunna get both sides replaced now. Just to be sure

All good points Matt, no offence taken! I agree with you 100%

Like I said, off to the local shop to get a good once over. Not taking any more chances with this thing!

Also a lot of the time with things mechanical they can be fine one minute and s**t themselves the next. Providing it didnt have any play in the bearing or was binding a licensed mechanic wouldnt of picked up anything was a miss any better then you. Most likely worse as you are just a customer and we all get somewhat more critical when its our loved ones in the car.
Keep at it , dont let this experience throw you off the horse , get into it and fix it. Just do the lot of it if you are in a position to do it. Once one part has some kms and has failed its only time till the rest starts letting go.
To chcuk away a few reasonably priced parts that are still serviceable is cheaper then a tow truck.
While I am a huge believer in putting new stuff in all the way a new part can also fail. You just have to do everything possible to stack the odds in your favour.

Sucks about the wheel bearing, hope no other damage was done to the wagon & nobody was hurt.

I've never had a wheel bearing fail that badly on me, but I have had a brand new bearing fail, faulty item, s**t just happens sometimes. Lucky I was only a couple of kms from home & could limp the car home slowly.

EVL098 says it pretty good when it comes to old cars, and hell, even "new" car's have issues. Don't get my sister or her b/f started on their "new" car's purchased late 2010. A commodore ssv & a focus. Both have had so many issues it's not funny. More issues than I've had in my EB Ghia in the last 12mths anyway!

In regards to why the bearing might have failed, it might not have been packed 100% correctly with grease, maybe the seal behind it failed, allowed sand/dirt in & caused rapid wear & failure? Maybe the bearing was replaced but the matching cup wasn't fit to the rotor? I've been guilty of that before, forgetting to fit the new cup to the rotor. 2 weeks down the track and you have noisy bearings again....

Just keep at it man, it's worth it in the end, compared to the costs of a "new" car. IE, spares, depreciation of it's value (rapid) and then loan repayments as well. At least we own our "old car's".

Cheers

ToranaGuy

Provided you have a decent shop manual, do the job properly, have the right materials, and thoroughly check your work afterwards, there's no reason DIY work can not be as good as, if not better than the pro's.
Plus it's 'your' vehicle, so you will take the best care.
Also agreed, many people are reactive rather than proactive - then they fix things bandaid style, or use crappy 2nd parts - you can't expect a long term fix with that approach.

Keeping a maintenance log, i.e. when work was done, datewise and/or kms, is essential. You're asking for trouble if you don't, and rely on rego checks to bring problems to light.

The pics to me look like water ingress/grease loss - rust makes a great abrasive. So most likely the seals have deteriorated - most likely you can see oily/grimy spots around that area on the stub axle. Bearings probably haven't been repacked since Noah was a young boy.

Yeah thanks fella's, I'll get back on the horse! I've been servicing and modding my own cars now for the best part of 20+ years, so why stop now.

All day yesterday until I got home to check it out for myself, I was beating myself up thinking I had caused it as I only replaced the tie rods ends about 1 month ago. When I seen that it was the bearing that failed, I was slightly relieved, but still freaked out at the same time.

I will give myself a good slap up the back of the head and head down to repco tomorrow to pick up a couple of new bearing sets. I also have 2 brand new hubs/rotors down in the spare parts shed which I remember getting with the Fairlane when I bought it, so I will throw them on too.
Looks like I have a busy weekend coming up!

Cheers,
Mick

Busy weekend!? Probably an hours work all up taking your time. Everythings a big hassle at your age hey?

At least you get the bonus of proper ABS fresh rotors.

Make sure you use the Timken ones! I've never used anything else, and never had a problem.

20+ years means it's time to say stuff it & just keep doing it. Too late now to stop!

Timken do make good bearings, but I have never had a problem with repco wheel bearings to be honest. Failed bearing I had was a cbc packaged kit. Make sure you take a RACV/NRMA/Whatever group card with you if you don't have a trade card, so you can get 10% off the price if they are not already on sale. (I can't remember what is & isn't on sale week to week lol).

If you don't have a cash trade card, ask the guys/girls behind the counter for a form to get one, you do enough work on your car's to warrant it. If you want to know a bit more about a cash trade card, pm me.

Cheers

ToranaGuy

i know why people dont replace everything on the front end at once.. $400 is more then my 1 weeks pay. i cant afford to spend $400 on every car i have straight off the bat. but i do see your point, but an old car and replace everything one thing at a time.

i have seen a bearing do that before. the wrong grease, worn grease, lack of grease and it will heat up warp the metal casing and explode with bearings falling out all over the place.

luckily your wife is ok and unhurt. and its a simple fix.

also pedders do a 28 point safety check or something like that, well worth the $14 or something the charge..

Hey Mick glad the missus is OK, can be a shock I had the axle shear on my ol' ZC's 9" resulting in the wheel and drum going past me, luckily I was turning off the M5 not doing 100k's! just the reason my wife has a newer car cbf'd doing two cars maintenance plus a project.

Just came in from pulling the front end out of the wagon, it was worse than expected. The spindle is rooted for lack of a better word the inner bearing sleeve was practically welded onto the spindle and the spindle itself has chunks and deep gouges out of it everywhere. I end up getting the bearing sleave off with the trusty old hammer, but the spindle assembly is off to the dump.
Luckily I have the DC still here. Pulled the front left gear out of it, and will be able to use most of it to get me going again. The drivers side was all good, but will do the bearings and ball joints now I have it all stripped down.
Off to Repco tomorrow to get a few bit's'n'pieces for both sides, and while I am at it I will replace the brake pads as well as they were pretty low. The rotors I had down the back shed have been dusted off and will fit on nicely. They are RDA's.....not slotted, but will do the job for now.
Will also be fitting new poly sway bar link pin bushes that I have sitting here. That should sort out most of the front suspension for now!

As for the missus....I think she is OK. Hasn't left the house since it happened. I offered her the Lane to get around, but it is still sitting down the back with the car cover on! Better get her back in the drivers seat this weekend