Soo... my front right wheel was having a bit of play and lots of noise - bearing!

Bearing repair turned into a hub replacement because the bearing was spun.
Hub replacement turned to axle replacement because the old hub damaged the axle and the new hub did not fit.


220$ -> 400$ -> 530$.

Pwned?

 

I thought wheel bearings get worn, not spun... Is "spun" what the mechanic told you?

IMO, the hub replacement turning into an axle replacement is super sketchy. Your wheel would have had to be nearly ready to fall off by the time it got to that point.

Maybe someone else can chime in...

 

I would imagine bearings with rollers like wheel bearings couldn't get 'spun' like, say, a crank bearing. As was said, it would probably just wear internally.

 

You are milked by the shop, don't think hub can cause axel damage. Which shop you went to?

 

A wheel bearing race, in time, can spin on the hub(thus the term) and cause excessive wear. At that point the tolerance will be too great and a new bearing will also do the same thing immediately on the old hub. Thus the hub needs replaced. Happens quite often. Also with a lot of play, it is possible for it to damage the axle.

 

^^ exactly what my dad told me. He is mechanically inclined and saw the damage himself.

He actually dropped the price down to 430$.

 

Should of picked up new (used) spindle and axle and you or your mechanically inclined dad could have solved this for many less bones.

 

Next time you hear what sounds like a bad bearing, fix it before it's too late.

 

am I correct in saying that front maxima wheel bearings are actually tapered bearings put back to back? The overall outside shape is round, but the inner bearings are tapered to prevent lateral play. I just purchased one, and noticed a seam down the middle of the inner race.

On a different note, even cartridge bearings can "spin". If the bearing gets worn enough and ends up jamming, one of the races is going to spin. I'd think it would be the inner on the axle. A couple weeks ago, someone on here posted a pic of what happened when their bearing gave up. The inner race stuck, and twisted the axle right in two pieces! I'm sure the lateral play of the wheel had something to do with it as well. But his wheel almost fell completely off. Mine has been bad for a while, and it's really making me not want to drive it until it's fixed. I'm just a broke college kid though, and all my tools are at home.

 

Sooo yeah - doesn't look good now does it?

 

No, it doesn't look good at all. But I'm struggling to figure out how a wheel bearing going bad could have caused that. The damage is on the threaded portion at the end, which the axle nut goes onto. The splined portion, which is the only part that actually makes contact with the hub, looks totally intact. Maybe your mechanic "ran into some difficulty" removing or uninstalling the axle nut, and just blamed it on the wheel bearing...

Or maybe I'm just missing something here, and someone else can chime in and tell me what it is?

 

yeah, if you look at the position of the hole where the cotter pin goes through, the nut itself goes a bit farther, and that's where it is messed up. And I'd think that trying to get the nut off, wouldn't mess up the shaft that bad. That picture stumps me as well.

 

I highly doubt my mechanic is nearly at fault here, but what I think happened was the nut had some play in it and might have threaded the axle... just a shot in the dark.

 

Had anyone removed that nut before, e.g. for transmission, axle, or suspension service?

 

I believe so; a couple of years ago he drove it into a curb and had the whole front right suspension replaced plus the axles too... but I suppose whoever did that job did a ****ty job. I am gonna have to dig for the reciepts and see what exactly was changed, but I know for sure that the axles were.

 

Whoa. Who drove into a curb?

 

The previous retard owner.

There was no frame damage, we went over it with a fine fine comb. If I remember correctly, he replaced the front struts with Tokicos (they are jet black and look OEM but it says Tokico on them and I don't know if Nissan used Tokico's as OEM), new bushing, new tire rod, new lower control arm, new axle and probably something I am forgetting.

From some reason, he decided to do it on both sides

 

Yes, Tokico was an OEM for Nissan. Tokico + black = OE struts.

There is a chance that some mistake was made that either caused or led to the damage you are seeing now. I wish I had any clue whatsoever on how to tell, but I don't....