Wheel bearings

[Paulevasseur]

Can someone tell me if this is normal..All 4 wheels if I grab the tire at 3 and 9 o'clock and move back and forth there is no play. but if I grab it at 12 and 6 there is slight play on all 4..I have read that this is normal but to me it does not seem right,. Any ideas??

 

[Rruuff Day]

12 and 6 is typically the test wiggle to check wheel bearings but very slight movement may not indicate the bearings are bad. Possibly they may only need a re-packing of grease and re-torque the nuts. Maybe someone @turbozig @Jr. Corvette @taylorsk8 with a C3 can chime in here with some hands on knowledge.

 

[wide'05]

Depending on your angles you are also getting movement from your ball joints as well as tie rods. Were you looking for a bearing noise or just doing regular maintenance checks?

 

[turbozig]

There should be very little play doing the 12 and 6 o'clock rock test. A small bit of play is normal, but very small.

 

[Jr. Corvette]

Can someone tell me if this is normal..All 4 wheels if I grab the tire at 3 and 9 o'clock and move back and forth there is no play. but if I grab it at 12 and 6 there is slight play on all 4..I have read that this is normal but to me it does not seem right,. Any ideas??

The front end should have very little to no play when testing 12 to 6. However, the rear end can have a lot of play due to the design of the suspension. Normally a car would have an upper and lower strut rod (or control arms) and a driven member. C3 Corvettes used the driven member (half shafts) as an upper strut. There had to be some play in the differential which consequently effects the wheel. Over time this play gets increasing worse as the stub axles wear.
If your wheel bearings haven't been done in a long time it's a relatively easy and cheap fix to replace the front bearings so I would do that. The rear wheel bearings are a bit more of a pain and require a special setup tool to achieve proper preload before installation of the spindle.

I would recommend checking and/or replacing/repairing the rear lower strut rods and see if that improves the rear end. If that doesn't fix it then I would do the bearings next. You can always check the stub axle play by jacking the car, crawling underneath, and have a helper move the wheel. A magnetic base indicator would be best to make sure your stub axles are within spec.

I actually did a write up this past winter when I rebuild my differential and improved the rear suspension setup. I recorded a video of the play before and after of how much my wheel moved. A year prior to that video I had actually removed the differential and had it checked and rebuilt. The rebuilder said the amount of movement I had in the differential was acceptable! Here's the link incase you're interested. Differential Overhaul and Winter Projects

Hopefully you find out what it is. I know it can be frustrating tracking down a problem.

 

[wide'05]

In a previous post I asked if it was a noise which started the bearing inspection because I would add that many a D.I.Y.er and mechanic have been fooled by rear noise caused by not having the proper amount of posi additive in rear oil.