Background: 213k; replaced right-front bearing 20k ago and left front 5k ago.

I have been having some serious grinding sounded like the right front bearing so I replaced it, noise still there. Replaced the left front and solved the loud grinding. But, there is still a light hum coming from the right front bearing. So right now I am running on new bearing and still problems... has anyone experienced this many bad bearings? Could there be something causing this? 'Preciate the thoughts....

 

if the hub was damaged it wont sit in the spindle properly and that will kill your bearings in no time. Also remember that the long axle has its own set of bearings on the bracket that bolts underneath the car and those may be what you are hearing.

 

check teh cv axle it makes noise when its bad also..

 

A cupped tire will cause a hum.

 

99% of the time when your bearing goes you need to replace the hub too. If you dont it will not be pressed on your bearing as tight as it should and you will end up with the same problem. Also if you do not tighten down the axle nut to spec. the bearing will fail with in a short period of time.

 

So you say I might need a new hub? How could that get damaged? Also, when I replaced the right front bearing, it immediately makes noise, and it even grinds a little when I turn the hub by hand before putting everything back together...man, this sucks...

Tires are brand new...

When the car is jacked up, I run the tires and listen with a s***hescope and can hear a slight grinding coming from the right front hub, so I am pretty sure the tire or CV is not making noise since they are not loaded.

 

Why can't we say s***hoscope?

s t e t hoscope

Anyway, I feel your pain. I'm going the complete hub route.

 

yea i would like to know was well... because i dont see how it could...

to the OP..

Raise the car grab the wheel with both hands and try to shake it left and rigth and up and down... if u tightened the CV shaft to 200lbs it should not move... if it does the the bearing wasnt pressed in all the way or the cv is bad.. i had the same problem....

 

Aight, thanks...Although low probability, I think (and hope) I have just run into a batch of bad bearings, and now I have a different brand, it will be better...

I'm planning to get under her tomorrow morning and gonna work it over. It better get fixed this time!!

 

I've had 3 hubs taken out by wheel bearings. Its very common. Very common. The bearing race wears down the hub when the bearing goes out. The hub is pressed in to the inner bearing race. If you use a hub that has been worn down even a little bit due to a bad bearing then it will not press tightly together thus you get a metal on metal scrapping sound. The hum you hear is the very begining stages. Once it gets louder the hub is toast. A good test for a wheel bearing is to drive the car and make some what sharp turns with the wheel. This will put more weight on one side of the car and less on the other. The side with the bad bearing will make a louder noise when more weight is put on it and then not make as much or none at all when weight is transfered off of it. I've fixed about 7 or 8 bearings on maximas. The easiest / cheapest fix is to find a good spindle in a junkyard and replace the whole thing. They are about $60. A new bearing will cost about $60 and a new hub about $180 at a dealership. Then you need to install which is not a very easy task.

 

the only way that the hub can go bad is if the wheel bearing is so ****ed up that it falls apart in side.. the inner and outer race is pressed against the ball bearings inside... and the cv axle holds the outer race from moving when the nut is tightened.. so the ony way that the hub can go bad is if somehow one or both of the races move aka spin.... but that would require driving for a long time with a bad bearing...


the fastest way to ruin a bearing is if u dont tighten the CV axle nut all the way OR if u have a bad axle.. by bad axle i mean if u grab the axle shaft and it moves in and out of the trans

 

It doesn't take long to ruin a hub, maybe 2 weeks of driving. That is not a long time. The bearing doesn't have to be completely destroyed to ruin it either, but don't believe me, keep driving on it and find out.

As I've stated been there done that SEVERAL times. Just because they are pressed together doesn't mean they can not come apart if the conditions are right.

 

i drove on mine for 2-3 months.... and the hub is fine...

 

Dubbya is right when the bearing goes replace the hub save your self a headache and money I replace the bearing here in MA cost me $95.00 plus 5% tax and about $180.00 for labor the fist time and in three month I had to replace the hub and the bearing the second time so I had to pay another $180.00 plus parts ..the best way to know for sure is a simple test ..take a corner either left or right more than 30mph and if it hums or grinds than you know is a bad bearing ..
P.S the longer you wait the more expensive it will get ..

good luck !!