Front spindle bearing failure

[Bob McDonald]

The trac is at the dealer right now. Drove up to Pebble Beach on Wednesday and as I approached Salinas I seemed to feel a slight tug to the left whenever I hit any small bump on the highway. When I stopped for fuel in Salinas, I looked at the front wheels but didn't see anything obvious. After I drove just a little further I definitely felt something wrong and then I heard grinding and immediately pulled over into a store parking lot.



At first it seemed like it was only a brake pad disintegrating and beginning to tear into the rotor.

So here I am 350 miles from home, 35 miles from my destination with the bride and pets (2 cats) in a broke truck. Thank goodness for AAA. I got it towed to the local dealer for what originally was believed to be new pads and at least 1 rotor.



Then I had to find a rental car. It was late and the only open agency was at the Monterey Airport. So that was a fun time getting to the airport to get the rental and to continue to Pebble for the night.



Heard late today that they also found that the wheel bearing had failed completely and allowed the rotor to wobble which allowed it to contact disintegrate the pad. That was apparently the root cause. So now I need to a new spindle as well, since the race had gotten so hot it welded itself to the spindle.



This is turning out to be an expensive trip to Pebble. BTW, the rental is a brand new Dodge Ram 1500 4 door pickup with only 238 miles on it. Not a bad truck. Rides nice. It is a 4wd and it sure is high up. The brides really struggle to get in and out.



Hopefully I will get the Trac back tomorrow.

 

[Mark Stadnicki]

I had the same thing exact thing happen to me in my '02 200 miles away from home on the Jersey TP. My bearing actually fused to the spindle! I called my friend with a list of parts and tools to pick up at my garage. He drove up to me and we repaired it enough to limp it back to MD. You should of seen the sparks flying from us using a dremel on the spindle to get a new bearing to fit. After I got it home- new spindle, new bearings, new rotors, new pads.



Hope the rest of your trip turns out better!!

 

[Kevin Palmer]

Though not extremely common on the Trac, it is a somewhat common failure.



And when it happens, it often destroys both the bearing and the spindle. And sometimes, the race will spin within the rotor and trash out the rotor as well (on 2 wheel drives).