I've been hearing a failing bearing noise from the front end of my EJ8 w/ LS Swap for about 2 weeks. It was finally warm enough to really inspect it yesterday.

I thought it was wheel bearing going bad, but both front wheels spun smoothly and without any noise with the car off the ground and out of gear.

Climbing underneath, I see the inner CV on the PS axle is wet with tranny fluid. Rocking the inner CV back and forth, there's definitely more deflection than there should be. The inner CV seems "loose" in the box, but is seated all the way down.

With the car in gear, rotating the PS wheel forward, then back, I car hear a metallic "tink" when the direction is reversed. I'm worried that this is the sound of the ring gear hitting the oil guide plate. Does that seem possible?

I've got a spare tranny to throw in there, but don't have time until Saturday to swap them. I need a few more miles out of it for the work week. Am I crazy to keep driving on it?

 

First, what makes you think you have a bad bearing.

Second, what type of axle is in the position that is leaking? a reman? or Honda? Is the seal Honda? Almost every aftermarket seal I have seen leaks.

 

That "light aircraft" noise. The hum of a failing bearing from front end at speed.

Later in the week, it developed a "scraping" metallic noise as well.

Older DSS Stage 1 axle, repacked at least once by me with Redline CV2. I've put miles on these things in multiple cars, but they don't have the inner cv wobble that EVERY re-man I've ever tried does. Seals are OEM Honda and were just replaced last July.

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Got my back-up tranny rebuilt on Saturday and swapped into the car on Sunday. Haven't had a chance to break open the one that came out yet.

The same axle installed in the rebuilt transmission fits properly with without the large amount of play where the axle connects to the transmission. I feel confident that the both axles are good.

Bearing hum remains. Pretty clear that it's a wheel bearing now.

 

Ive seen varying degrees of "slack" on the shafts, and using a Honda seal cured nearly all of them. The few others that didn't had obvious scoring on the sealing edge, preventing it from ever sealing.