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Greg, The CV joints are another possibility for rear wheel clicks. Before you go and take stuff apart, try grabbing the axle shaft and yanking it back and forth, axially, a few times. Sometimes this repositions the CV joint parts and maybe redistributes some grease, and I've seen this actually make CV joint noises simply go away.... On 12 Aug 2003 at 19:38, Greg Merritt wrote: > Ok, so I pulled out the cotter pin and tried first to tighten > the axle nut. (I stood on my breaker bar, without bouncing, at about > a foot away from center.) It didn't tighten. 18" would probably be better. > I removed the nut -- took a bit of effort -- and pulled off > the wheel & drum & hub as a unit. I had a beat-up hub on my '71 > once, and know what that looks like; the splines on my '69 tonight > look great to my eye. > > I grabbed the axle and moved it forward and backward as well > as in and out; you can see/hear it here: > > http://vwtype3.org/axle.avi I haven't listened to your avi, but without a hub, there is nothing to limit the axial play, so this may not mean anything. There's always some side play in there because the bearing has a small amount of clearance in its housing. This play always seems like it is more than it should be. > Seems like a good deal too much movement/noise, eh? Time for new > bearings, I guess? If so, should I do both wheels just for good > measure? In my whole life I have NEVER had to replace any of those bearings. I did work on a super beetle once where the rear drum had come off while driving and that bearing actually came apart. I didn't have a spare and he was in a hurry so I just cleaned everything up, stoned down some burrs and put it back together. I know that it drove just fine for the next year, when he sold the car. I've never simply replaced bearings just because they are old. I find that they will go hundreds of thousands of miles. Bad bearings will be obvious: Look for ground up metal which has turned the grease IN THE BEARING black, or for bits/flakes of broken metal, or for pits broken out of the bearing races. > Keith -- the car now has like 72 or 73k miles. I got it at > 54,000. So, no, looks like I missed that maintenance. :( It's a LOT of work to do this. I did it once and then talked to several mechanics who advised me that the labor exceeded the cost of the parts by so much that they advised just letting them go until they failed, which they very seldom do. OTOH, if you have a bad one, I have both good used spares and new parts. Remember that the outer bearing MUST be a roller bearing. -- ******************************* Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, Wisconsin, USA ******************************* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org