Complete wheel hub/bearing failure

[Bugeater]

No ****. Passenger front came off completely in turn 10 at VIR. Thank god I was going straight when it let go. Only thing holding the wheel on was the rotor wedged between the caliper. Didnt know the wheel hub was separated from the car until I got to pits on my own power. I thought I just blew a tire. There was no noise before the break, and when it went it felt like a tire just blew with the car slightly lower and pulling to the right. Car is still in the trailer so no pictures yet. Gonna be a ***** to get out since the wheel wont turn backwards on the rotor. Guess I am going to have to make that side slippery with soapy water or something to get the car out straight and not tear up the trailer...yay.

Anyone have any advice as to where to get new or upgraded assemblies? I may decide to do all corners.

I also need to do brakes up front as my once-red stoptech caliper is now black and bubbled from the heat of driving back on the rotor. The rotor and hat is obviously toast. How that didnt start a fire is beyond me. May trash my stoptech setup and go Dave's srt setup...

Anyone else have the damn wheel hub break off? I have heard of old cast wheels breaking, but not the front hub/bearing assemblies...

I guess the positive is that I didnt wreck as a result. Woo hoo?

 

[Dan Cragin]

The wheel bearings require frequent checks for free play on race cars. We replace them
every 40 hours of track use. New bearings should be torqued to 300ftpds when new, then checked after every race. This extends the life. Many in the VRL have changed to a new bearing and hub. More info can be found through Skip Thomas at the VRL website.

WC Competition Coupes use the production bearings, they replace them frequently.

We stock the production bearings and can pre-torque them before sale.

 

[99 R/T 10]

I think you got real lucky. Hopefully it will be an easy fix.

 

[Bugeater]

Dan,
Thanks for the reply - They were checked by Tom when he had my car for the heads/bottom end work last month, and there didnt seem to be any play in the wheels this weekend either. My front hubs I believe are the "VRL style" as you mentioned, or I think they called them the Whelen quick change hub...Will be calling you today regarding this and also the push fan setup, as I was still running hot as hell for this event.

 

[FrankBarba]

BUG....you comming to Hyperfest Next week at Summit ???
You are one lucky person....

 

[Bugeater]

BUG....you comming to Hyperfest Next week at Summit ???
You are one lucky person....

Nah - gonna be out of town visiting family...next event is most likely Viper Days in 4 weeks.

 

[Kenneth Krieger]

Glad you got back to the pits with no other damage, count your blessings. Good luck with the fix!

 

[Bugeater]

Glad you got back to the pits with no other damage, count your blessings. Good luck with the fix!

Thanks - interesting info for you Ken:

My car is one of the original Arizon Desert Racing cars built for the VRL waaaay back. It has the Ted Marsh/Coleman Racing hubs on it. Apparently, there were some spindle failures on this combo, but rare. All the cars Ted knew about came out of Phoenix! Wonder if heat had anything to do with it...BTW the hub looks fine. Have some pics...can we d/l them here so I dont have to host them somewhere?

 

[99 R/T 10]

Just upload them to your gallery, then link them to this thread.

 

[Bugeater]