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Had the very rare occasion of working on a vehicle with a bad wheel bearing driven to destruction today. Which reminded me of this thread. So I can now tell you the worst that could happen:
The heat and friction caused the stub end (the splined bit) of the driveshaft to shear. So the only thing holding the wheel on to the van was the brake caliper against the disk and the remnants of the driveshaft hanging in the hub; The splines had twisted so it didn't just slide out. The loss of drive is what stopped it, just as well as it probably would have gone out of control if driven any further (It sat with about 30degrees of negative camber, so the handling would have been well iffy).
If it wasn't a driven axle and had drums, the wheel would have fell off!
17 March 2021, 12:47 AM
