Evening all. Rather distressing news, the Jag is off the road yet again. Just on the day my replacement steering rack arrived. Ugh.

Past 2-3 weeks I've been getting a squeaking noise from rear right wheel. Came and went but generally in the mornings going to work at medium speed. Started to become a bit annoying. I suggested to a friend it could be wheel bearing but was assured no thats not the noise a wheel bearing makes - it would make a grinding noise. When I changed my rear springs I did notice some 6/12 o-clock movement - excessive I would describe it so wheel bearings were put on my to-do list.

About midday today I had to drive 15 kms to a meeting. Leaving my work car park the squeak turned into a nasty metallic scraping noise. A colleague walking past actually remarked on it and I put the car in reverse to ask is it definitely rear right wheel. Noise promptly disappeared and we joked "Ok thats fixed then"! Pulling out onto the main road I head a metallic "bang" and more scraping noise. Pulled over to get petrol 100m away. Drove away from there, all silent again. Another 1km down the road scraping noise returned for a few seconds and disappeared. I got it into my head that maybe something had wrapped itself around the drive shaft and the bang was it breaking. No more issues on the way there or back. Driving home however the squeak returned followed by a grinding noise then a metallic clack clack noise with noticeable wobbly rear end. 0.5km from home so I drove home at 5mph with my wife in another car behind me hazards on. Awful clicking and clunking all the way.

Got home took wheel off - less play than before actually but clearly bound up inside.

Bearings ordered. I am hoping the hub itself is still okay along with spacer and separator but who knows.

Sometimes I do have to question the logic of using a 24 year old car daily ...

 

You really ought to fix things like that when they appear, rather than waiting 2-3 weeks for it to go bang and hope that there is no collateral damage.
That's what I keep telling myself anyway.

 

A good used part might be a better option. The hub and carrier are likely damaged.
Easier to put new bearings in a good hub with shims already setup.

Just a thought (it is what I would probably do).

 

Hi thanks - yes I had been thinking along those lines. I think for now I'll get it apart and see what it looks like. I was only going slowly when it really went to pieces and stopped straight away so lets see.

In terms of getting the hub off do I take drive shaft off diff and remove the whole thing with shaft attached or does the hub come off leaving the drive shaft behind?

 

Erm, yup!!

Trouble is you tend to use passed experience - I've driven loads of old cars with imperfect wheel bearings and they seem to last months not weeks - this literally went from a squeak to total meltdown in a few weeks. I did have it on the list to do and plan was after sorting the steering rack.

Looks like weekend after next (waiting for parts) is a Jag repair-fest!

 

I pull the axle off the diff complete with the hub and I try to buy a used one the same.

Jaguar sets the shims in the hub and it should be the same shim setup when you install new bearings.
Trying to buy a complete shim set and dial gauges with a new or different stripped hub is costly and time consuming.
A used one will have all setup shims and you might just grease the bearings or replace them. Your call.