Home   Forum   Classifieds   Tech/DIY   News   Articles   Chat   Contact Us

New G500 owner / Wheel bearing maintenance...

Tech forum for DIY, repairs, restoration, problems, questions, etc... Post here get answers!
pishoc
Posts: 15

New G500 owner / Wheel bearing maintenance...

Post#1 » Sat Nov 21, 2020 11:13 am

Hello,

I am new to the forum. Just purchased a 2003 G500 back in September. I have restored and rebuilt Range Rover classics so I am enjoying working on this Gwagen. Definitely a stronger build quality than the Rovers.

I have few questions, The truck had 146K miles when purchased, and so far I put approx 2k miles on it myself. I have done / replaced the following...

1) Crank Position Sensor

2) fuel pump relay

3) Tie rods and drag links

4) center driveshaft

5) Brake master cylinder

6) new Bilstein shocks, B6 the stiffer ones

I have noticed the following. at above 75MPH the truck exhibits a mild intermitttent vibration. I replaced center Driveshaft. Vibration still there I need to examine the other prop shafts I assume. This was an overall vibration, seat of your pants thing.

Bushings appear to be sound.

Any ideas what could cause this vibration?

After installation of the new shocks I also noticed that a vibration in the steering developed. I now have the truck up on my lift and upon inspection of the hubs I have found that the king pin bearings to be worn. There is play when manipulating the hub. The play is definitely in the king pin bearings, not in the wheel bearings. I checked my wheel bearings using my dial gauge and they were within the 0.01-0.03 tolerance, they feel good, spin smoothly, so I am assuming they are ok.

I have read in the forums and looked at the diagrams and it does appear that I can remove the hub with the CV joint and the wheel bearings as a complete unit, and still have access to the king pin bearings in the swivel ball.

My question is, given the mileage should I remove the slotted nuts and repack the bearings with new grease, or should I just keep the whole assembly together and remove it as a whole and just do the king pin bearings in the balls? As I think my wheel bearings are still sound, is there any danger to pulling them out and re-greasing them? Is it better to leave them alone?

.

I still have yet to replace steering damper, etc, but before I do all of that I want to get the front hubs secure.

User avatar
vadimivanovich
Posts: 8643

Re: New G500 owner / Wheel bearing maintenance...

Post#2 » Sat Nov 21, 2020 11:25 am

If you're sure you need NOTHING else, which is doubtful, you could replace only the king pin bearings. Due to age and mileage, however, Your CV boots are likely torn and the wheel bearings are probably not far from expiring. Pull the king pin bearing caps & swivel seal ring off and slide the hub/knuckle/axle assembly out. Once you clean out the grease you can inspect the condition of things, including checking the CVs for looseness when straight. You might get lucky, I suppose. Plan on a fresh set of swivel seals too.
"The way you think is the way you live"

pishoc
Posts: 15

Re: New G500 owner / Wheel bearing maintenance...

Post#3 » Sat Nov 21, 2020 11:47 am

Yes, I was planning on that, just didn't want the post to be too big so I didn't mention it initially.

I have on hand / just purchased new CV boots, swivel ball seals, new king pin bearings / caps etc. I was hoping I would get lucky with the wheel bearings. Since they are meeting specs with my dial gauge, and there is no play in them when manipulating the hubs, is it most likely they are OK? Does that not even matter as the truck has 146K plus mileage, and no matter what the bearings are done even if they feel / measure to be OK?

There does appear to be fresh index markings on the slotted hub nut. Is it possible the bearings may have been done within the 17 years of this trucks life? The original owner had it regularly serviced, by MB, but he is not very technical. When asked, he just said he aways brought it in to the dealer for service. I doubt the dealer would replace wheel bearings, but is re-greasing wheel bearings part of the MB dealer w463 service ? I will say that the truck seems to have been very well looked after. Would you advise that I remove the wheel bearings and inspect, then reassemble / repack with grease? Isn't that part of the normal maintenance regimen?

Do I risk anything by pulling the bearings out to repack them, and then resetting them? I just dont want to endure the expense of new bearings if not completely necessary. I have rebuilt many Defender and Range Rover hubs, and the wheel bearings on those trucks seem to last into very high mileage. Is it different on the W463 due to the wheel offset and the larger tires? is there excessive stress on these bearings as opposed to other 4wd vehicles? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

User avatar
vadimivanovich
Posts: 8643

Re: New G500 owner / Wheel bearing maintenance...

Post#4 » Sat Nov 21, 2020 11:53 am

W463 wheel bearing do seem to last under "normal use". It's really your call what you do. I hesitate to replace things that are not broken - if they are withing spec there is no reason to replace them. Yes, of course they could have been replaced during the PO's ownership. The other side of that coin is that you might have to open up the knuckles again in the future (near or far) to do the wheel bearings. If you'd like it done once so you can forget about it, do everything.
"The way you think is the way you live"

User avatar
mockingbird812
Posts: 993

Re: New G500 owner / Wheel bearing maintenance...

Post#5 » Sat Nov 21, 2020 11:58 am

I wouLd recommend getting the name of the dealer that serviced this G from the PO and contacting them. They should provide you with all maintenance/repairs that they have done over the years. May be some useful info for you.
Sam (Dayton, Ohio, USA) '94 W461.452 290GD (ex Dutch Mil) LWB Kastenwagen 5spd manual w/OM606A transplant; Former owner: '71 Pinz 710K.

ekwalberg
Posts: 294

Re: New G500 owner / Wheel bearing maintenance...

Post#6 » Sat Nov 21, 2020 12:13 pm

It's been a while since I was deep into the topic of wheel bearings, but I recall it being discussed that there were a number of people with 463's getting 200k out of the wheel bearings (if it's not driven particularly hard). The 460's tended to need servicing more around 100k. Maybe you can figure out how often he changed brakes to get an idea of how he drove the thing... or if he did much offroading.

Be super careful not to lose track of the shims in the kind-pin bearings.

Intermittent vibration in what sense? The weirdest I've ever dealt with turned out to be both front tires being equally badly balanced. So depending on how they were clocked as i drove down the road, they would (or would not) not induce some light steering wheel shimmy. Going around long sweeping turns, you could feel it going in or out of phase, and when the road straightened out, it stayed that way until the next sweeping turn. That's then the tires have equal pressure. You can drop the pressure 10psi in one front tire and then they'll rotate at slightly different rates and it'll go in and out of phase while you drive straight.
2000 Europa G500

User avatar
AlanMcR
Posts: 7729

Re: New G500 owner / Wheel bearing maintenance...

Post#7 » Sat Nov 21, 2020 12:28 pm

The G suspension is an exquisitely designed tuning fork that rings at 65+mph with the slightest provocation. Wheel balance is always the first thing to check on the G.

If nothing else. Swap front to back and see if things change.
...Alan

User avatar
apple
Posts: 1768

Re: New G500 owner / Wheel bearing maintenance...

Post#8 » Sat Nov 21, 2020 1:04 pm

Fresh steering dampener and road force balancing the wheels/tires was critical to eliminating vibes above 60mph on my G500.

User avatar
KurtisWagen
Posts: 543

Re: New G500 owner / Wheel bearing maintenance...

Post#9 » Sat Nov 21, 2020 1:21 pm

I had a wobble at like 55 mph and a rotation, road force balance and alignment is what fixed it!
2002 G500 - W463.249
1985 300GD - W460.333

pishoc
Posts: 15

Re: New G500 owner / Wheel bearing maintenance...

Post#10 » Sat Nov 21, 2020 1:43 pm

Wow! You guys are AWESOME! Thanks for all the quick replies! A very supportive forum group you Gwagon owners are. I agree that a wheel balance and new tires are probably in order but I always assume the worst and never start with the easy stuff! LOL. I do have one final question given that the bearings seem to be in spec. Is it necessary to open up and re-lubricate the wheel bearings given the mileage of 146K or should I just leave well enough alone. What’s the story with greasing bearings and how often do they need to be re-packed with Grease lubricated etc.

Return to “G Wagen Technical Forum”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Aboats222, giacomo.m, GMarius, Google [Bot], Johnny Christensen and 136 guests