Bearings
 

Hey Guys,

I have been reading a ton of Threads and posts about front bearings. My NA8 ONLY does +16 races (lemons racing). We haven't had a bearing failure yet, but from what I am reading it just a matter of time. We do repack our bearings between races (went a full 24 with Mobile 1 and no failures) :yippee:

Here are some pictures of the Drivers side hub after 30 ish hours of racing (practice and race).
Attachment 164734
Attachment 164735
If you look really close there the grease is two colors. The really bright pink is the same color as fresh grease. The other color is leaking out of the bearing. It looks like it might be a little cooked but i'm still new to doing this.

I just bought some Schaeffer's 248 from advanced-autosports.com Mmmmm Schaeffers.... They are known for their motor oil and for having the highest content of Moly in their automotive lubricants by quite a bit and revered on "Bob is the Oil Guy". This is a really good quality for our little miata bearings.

End of informational section. My question is, has anyone had any experience with GSP Bearings? I found them on Amazon today, they are a decent price ($60) but what really caught my eye was the hub construction and just how different they looked when compared to the standard Timkin bearings.


GSP Bearing
Attachment 164736
Timkin
Attachment 164737

It looks like beefier design?? I was thinking about getting a set opening them up and repacking with Schaeffer's and possibly replacing with the ceramic ball bearings. According to what I have read the high level of precision means that one ball wont receive higher loading then the other balls and then blow up.

End game is to build a much beefier front bearing so I don't need to rebuild them between every race.

Also remeber that lemons is limited to 240tw tires, waaaay less than most of the people seeing hub failures (they tend to be running true race/track tires and much higher cornering forces).

well its 200 but who's counting :skid:

The interesting part is the front still feel good after that last race but the drivers rear was lose as heck when I got it on the lift. Too bad there isn't a way to pack the rear bearing with better grease.

but any thoughts on those GSP bearings?

I repack the rear bearings, they come apart the same way as the front ones.

On the front hubs the two pictures you linked look like the same exact hub to me. These hubs are a crapshoot and there's 2-3 different styles of the casting/machining that exist and only 1 doesnt suck, and you can get any of the styles in any color box (timkin, detroit axle, gsp, etc, the only difference is the color of the box). $60 is super expensive though the detriot axle ones are like $20.

Thanks for the tip! I didn't know the rear bearings were rebuildable. I ordered some Dura International bearings on Amazon and some Timkin bearings for the rear.

I can also report that the Schaeffer's 248 is the stickiest, tackiest, goopiest shit I have ever touched. It coated my gloves like nothing I have ever seen. It was like packing honey. Think Alien primordial ooze. If this stuff comes out of the bearing it will be some kind of adverse act of quantum physics. T-minus 46 days till race day!

I hardly got 1 season out of a dura international on 205 street tires...

Are there any pictures around the difference between the good casting and the bad ones? I will need a new front hub soonish. One of the stockers has developed the tiniest amount of play. (140k miles and a crap ton of autocross the last few years, not bad.)

did you repack them with good synthetic grease? If yes, I will return and get some from Detroit Axle per what Leafy said.

If you have play, your bearing is toast. Don't wait to replace it. I have seen plenty of YouTube videos of what happens when a bearing seizes. It usually involves the wheel coming off :facepalm:

The Detroit Axle bearings have gone up in price :(
$42 on their website (I haven't found them elsewhere, link for cheaper?)

Get something new and follow the guide to repack with something good. I just used the Schaeffer's 248 and will report how that goes after our enduro in April. We went a full 24 on new and used bearings with Mobile 1 synthetic grease with no problems on the front. The rear did begin to loosen up at the end of the race but those had factory grease (that's going to change from here on out, THANKS LEAFY!)

Here is the link to the step by step guide.
https://www.miataturbo.net/suspensio...ont-hub-75372/

I hope this helps!

You can get the detroit axle bearings on eBay for a reasonable price. I think I paid $50-60 for 2 of them shipped to me. These were front hubs, not sure on pricing for rear.

Thanks! I'll have a look. The bummer is, I live 10 minutes from their wear house lol

The ABS ones are cheaper. You can just knock the ring off apparently. Found them here.

Pair of 2 Front or Rear Driver and Passenger Wheel Hub and Bearing Assembly ABS | eBay

I did not, just ran them the way they came.

I wondered about that. Thanks for the info

You dont even have to knock the ring off. Theres an old thread, I think Hustler started it that is like 9001 pages long and has everything you wanted to know about front hubs in it, and some ---- stuff you didnt.

Do you have a link?

Will have to dig that up later. I was figuring I wouldn't need to take them off, I just figured if I needed to, I could. I wouldn't have expected mazda to use a different upright casting for ABS and non ABS cars (that would be something GM would do though).