Hi All,

In a final push to get my 280z across the finish line and through a safety/registration for the summer after 7 years of garage bound ownership, but I've been thwarted by a stubbornly wiggly driver side rear wheel bearing.

The rears had wheel bearing play that showed up in the original safety inspection. I've replaced the bearings and seals on both sides. The passenger side is fine, but the drivers side still has a lot of play even after managing to get the full max recommended 240 ft-lb torque into the stub axle nut.

I took it apart again and noticed the inner bearing was able to be slid in an out of the hub by hand and on inspection there is some evidence of the outer race (of the old originally removed bearing) having spun in the hub. I confirmed the OD of the new (installed but not driven) and originally removed bearings that did have miles on them appear to be the same (to the 100th of a mm)

I'm going to try to call some machine shops tomorrow to see if boring and sleeving is an option since strut assemblies are hard to come by.

Does a bearing with the same inner race ID for the stub axle but a very slightly larger outer race diameter I can bore back to an interference fit without sleeving exist? Is there somewhere I could find replacement strut assemblies or something with a new or used hub I haven't managed to find yet? I imagine I could go full T3 coilovers or something like that that will provide a new hub, but I would far prefer to not to go down that pricey rabbit hole just yet.

Any other ideas are greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Edited yesterday at 05:06 AM1 day by ZROT

Where are you located?

Was there a spacer in the hub along with the bearing? They are stamped a,b, or c according to the thickness.

I'm located in Western Canada

Yes, there is a B Spacer/Distance Piece and its a B Hub/Strut Assembly. I previously measured the spacer and it appears to be in spec according to the FSM and I don't see any damage to the spacer.

The outer threads on the stub axle aren't spectacular after removing the original stub axel nut so I'm going to get them cleaned up at a machine shop but the inner threads (where the nut actually sits once tight) seem to still be good so I'm assuming the compression forces were decent esp once I got it up to the full 240 ft-lb even if the nut may have been affected by the less than perfect outer threads on its way on. To be clear, I can still hand tighten the nut on to the stub axle on the bench with the companion flange out of the way, but its quite draggy through first few threads. I already have ordered a few more new stub axle nuts as well in case the new, just removed but not yet staked, one got damaged. The washer that goes between the nut and companion flange is also new.

All to say, my suspicion is that the outer-diameter of the inner wheel bearing has some play in the hub which I imagine should be an interference fit and I shouldn't be able to slide the inner bearing in and out of the hub by hand. Since the outboard bearing isn't tapered, I would imagine it cannot offer much resistance to radial movement of the inner bearing leading to the play I'm seeing.

Feel free to correct me if anything I'm saying here isn't adding up or if you need more pics to help me figure out what's going on here. I think my first move is to figure out how to get the inner bearing to fit more securely in the hub.

Thanks!

33 minutes ago, ZROT said:

should be an interference fit and I shouldn't be able to slide the inner bearing in and out of the hub by hand.

What you're saying sounds correct. I've read about the rear hub race surface wearing/wallowing. The guys that race see it more often. Hybridz has some stories.

I wonder if there is enough material there to be machined and sleeved. A good machinist might have better ideas. Metal spray or welding, for example.

4 hours ago, ZROT said:

I'm located in Western Canada

That's a big area. If you're near Calgary, @zKars might be able to help you with a replacement hub.

Cheaper to ship it also. I’d go with a replacement unit and be done IMO

I agree, I would find a different hub. Either in Canada or import from the US. Also the later axle nut from the 280zx I believe is self locking so no staking necessary

6 hours ago, Namerow said:

That's a big area. If you're near Calgary, @zKars might be able to help you with a replacement hub.

I can help with a hub I think, will look tomorrow for sure. What part of western canada zRot?

@ZROT

I am conveniently in this situation it seems, in the Calgary area @zKars . I definitely would appreciate if you're able to see if you have something in better nick than mine.

Great! I’ll send you a PM here and we can exchange better contact info.