Gears & Crosses

I'm pretty sure my rear wheel bearing needs to be replaced (thanks to information gained from this site). I want to change it out myself. What I need to know is, do you change the whole hub assembly? That is what comes up at NAPA.com. It comes up as an assembly not just the bearing. Has anyone changed the rears before and how easy is it to do?

Your input would be greatly appreciated!!!

Help me before I destroy some hubs,
Gears

Bborges

iTrader: (1)

up for you bro...

I will be replacing mines in the near future... just wont do it in the winter..


so anyone has any tips?!

Succinct

Just did mine on my '03. The rear bearing/hub are sold as one assembly, and can be bought from Dave B for about $95 (a bargain considering it's also the hub). I bought it from my local dealer (because I was in a hurry) for $120. You also will need to replace the spindle nut (I think it will require a 30mm or 36mm socket, I can't remember), which is another $2 to $4. You will also need (or should use) a torque wrench rated to 150 ft-lb because that's the spec for tightening that spindle nut.

Installation wasn't too bad (if you've done this kind of thing before). I left the brake caliper (moving part) in the holder (staionary part) and removed/re-installed the whole thing, which allowed me to avoid getting into brake disassembly/assembly.

The only tricky part was removal of the old spindle nut. it has flanges which get "crushed" against the flat part of the spindle, so taking it back off was a bit tough. I finally fired up my air impact with 600 ft-lb of reverse torque and pulled it off that way. I doubt my breaker bar would've done it.

Gears & Crosses

Thanks Succinct !,

This is exactly the information I needed. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
I do 99% of my own auto repairs so this sounds do-able. From what you describe it looks like getting the nut off is the only problem. I don't have a 600 ft./lb impact, only a 150 ft./lb Craftsmen impact. Sounds like you have one of those nice Ingersol Rand impacts.

I can't believe this bearing went out at 79,000 miles. Nissans aren't what they use to be...

Thanks for sharing with us and God bless you,
Gears

PS: Thanks for the bump Bborges

Succinct

G&C - Don't feel too bad about your mileage - When test drove my Maxima in September at 69,700 miles, the rear wheel bearing was making that noise. I negotiated down from the asking price, figuring it was either the wheel bearing or tires, and the tires were new, so my hunch was bearing, which turned out to be right.

PS - P-M me if you'd like the brake caliper bracket torque spec. I also can give you a link to the '03 maxima service manual for on-line download (free) that covers the entire procedure.

PPS - It's nice that you have a NAPA that may have that part. No aftermarket local supplier I contacted (NAPA, Advance, Autozone, nor the mom-n-pops) could get it for me without some kind of special order, or if they could, it was more $$ than Dave B's price for the real thing.

PPPS - I think that IS a I-R impact gun I have! I bought it when I could not remove the crankshaft bolt on my '91 Civic Si while doing my timing belt change. I didn't want to F-around so I went straight to the strongest reverse torque impact tool they had at Sears. It was nearly $300, but I figured it was a break-even scenario since I'd have had to pay someone that much to change the timing belt for me. And so now, after all these years, it finally came to the rescue again!

Gears & Crosses

Succinct,
If I you could help me again, did you have to swap over the studs to your new Nissan hub? Oreilly is showing a hub with no studs, but its probably a generic picture.

This is real ironic Succinct! I went and bought a I/R impact several years ago to break a crankshaft bolt on my 92 Acura Vigor to do a timing belt also. The only problem was it didn't break it either. I could kill Honda for that garbage!!! I had to put the whole car back together and bring it to a shop. They had to move the radiator/condensor (North/south 5 cyl. engine) and put a 3/4" impact on it. I wish the I/R would have broke it loose because I would still have it now and I would have broke even $$$. Since it didn't, I returned mine to Sears.


To others looking at this thread: Succinct is correct, you have to have a 30mm socket. I broke my nut loose with a big 1/2" drive and a 2' pipe extension. Oreilly is "showing" $112 for the part and NAPA is showing $145 (all online). Keep in mind I haven't talked to a human being yet so I haven't verified this yet. I'm not happy with Nissans quality on this part so I'm deciding on these two...

ANYONE know how to get a discount on NAPA parts????

Gears

Succinct

The new hub has the new studs; no muss/no fuss. Can't explain the pic you saw. I'd say stick with the OEM nissan part on this - buy it from Dave B for $95. Besides, can NAPA sell you to correct crush/lock nut for the Spindle?

Also - there is an ABS wheel speed sensor back there too. be real careful with that piece b/c it's easy to damage and not cheap to replace. I just removed mine and put it back in after I'd installed the hub.

Gears & Crosses

Thanks for the additional info, it is appreciated.

I'm sorry, but I think I'm going to get the aftermarket part even if it is more expensive. It's just an old policy I have. If the factory part has a history of failing, try the aftermarket.

Gears

Bborges

iTrader: (1)

Gears & Crosses & Succinct





Great info... that will help me a LOT in the winter.



Few questions: Nissan is cheaper, but just like Gears, I am a little frustrated with the bearings going south with 80K miles... Does anyone else has inputs about aftermarket bearings? Any kinda of opnions?


Thanks again


BB

rmd0311

iTrader: (4)

I'm sorry., this might be very silly question. What does it sound like if your bearings are worn out?

Bborges

iTrader: (1)

not really a silly question. Actually, must people seem to NOT know they have a bearing problem. I rode different cars and I could tell their bearings were not 100% and their owners were like "really?"


It is hard to explain though, and english is not my first language so i lack the vocabulary. But I can tell you this: if one of your bearing is REALLY bad, then you should be able to drive at low speed (30mph) and windows open and go from right to left and you would hear the famous sound.


My bearings are not that bad and everytime i drive without music playing it drives me INSANE!! It's annoying.

Gears & Crosses

This is not a silly question... I searched a little on this site using Google. If you have heard what mud grip tires (4x4 tires) sound like going down the road at 40 MPH, well it has that same sound. In case you haven't, it is sort of a low frequency groan that comes and goes at certain speeds. Mine makes a slight noise at 40, but gets the loadest at 72 MPH. However, if I go about 78 you almost can't hear it at all. Also in my case, you have to be on a level surface and not turning or it will go away for a moment. It can be hard to diagnose. I rotated my tires first. Then I let my wife drive the car while I was in the back seat to make sure what wheel it was coming from. There is a BIG difference in price between the front and rear bearings so make sure.

Like Bborges said, once you figure out what it is, it is very annoying. But then again I am picky too.

Hey Bborges, you don't have a bad front wheel bearing, huh? I heard you shouldn't wait to change those.

I'm ordering from Oreilly today. My little bitty NAPA store says its a special order. I don't buy it, but I'm ready to get this over with.

I hope this helps, because I have been helped here also...
Gears

rmd0311

iTrader: (4)

PM me... If your primary language is spanish... I would really like to know.

Succinct

I've had different bearings fail making different sounds. In the case of my Maxima's rear wheel bearings, it was indeed like a "roar" or like that mud tire scenario. My son & I agreed that it sounded almost like a "factory" in the rear of the car, FWIW. ha-ha

Sometimes you can confirm that a bearing is faulty because the noise gets louder as you load up the noisy bearing while turning (i.e. a right-hand side bearing gets louder making a left-hand turn). (this didn't happen in my Maxima). Another time I had a front wheel bearing go bad on a BMW and it would make noises/increase noises while turning at parking lot speeds. My Maxima bearing didn't make much noise below 35 mph.

There are "old school" tests you can do like putting the car on a lift a grabbing the wheel top and bottom and shaking to see if it wiggles, but my Maxima was fine on all of the wiggle tests (as was my 540 w/a bad front bearing). Sometimes all you have to diagnose with is the noise.

Finally, don't disregard bearing noise either - I once had a car nearly catch on fire and flames were coming out of the wheel hub because it the bearing had overheated so much! This was soon after I bought my 1972 Corvette convertible (those had old-fashioned shim-them-yourself wheel bearings that were known to fail catastrophically). Fortunately I saw smoke first and was able to splash water on the hub before it got out of hand! If you ever buy a 1963-1982 Corvette, they all had that same rear wheel bearing issue, so get that checked out by someone who knows those cars before you buy one. They switched the design to the sealed one-piece hub (just like on our Maxima's rears) on the 1984 Corvettes.

Gears & Crosses

The Hub/Bearing came in today from Oreilly's as promised. The hub doesn't have the studs in it though. I hope my old ones work. The brand of the Hub is National / Federal Mogul - part# 512203. Also, I saw a hub out there on the net with Timken bearings . So there are alternatives.

I will try the swap tomorrow.

Wish me luck,
Gears

P.S.> Succinct,
I'm guessing the reason for the different sounds of the bearings when they are going out is from the difference in bearing designs. Ball bearing vs. Tapered vs. etc...

Bborges

iTrader: (1)

Good luck bro.. and dont forget to post back in here the details...

Later

Gears & Crosses

The new wheel hub is in and the noise is gone. The only snag I ran into was on the reluctor ring for the ABS sensor. My new hub didn't have the ring on it, so I had to take the hubs to a machine shop to get it swapped over. It cost me an extra $5.00 to do this. Getting the rear caliper back on the rotor was a little tight too but no biggie.

I had a strange thought while I was taking the old hub off. When it came off, one of the inner races stayed on the spindle. I looked inside the hub at the bearing and it looked OK but the grease didn't look good to me. The grease inside had the consistancy of soft bee's wax. I said to myself, no wonder these bearings fail with this kind of grease in them. For a moment, I thought about taking the bearing futher apart and repacking the bearings with new grease and putting it all back together. I ended up putting everything back on except the new grease and the brake caliper/mount to check the play in the bearing. I checked the bearing play at the wheel and decided it was too loose and gave up on the idea. This maybe an option for someone else out there.

This over all was a pretty simple job. If you guys out there can do a rear brake job, you can swap these hubs out (if you have the right tools).

Sorry about no pics, but you asked too late! If your mechanically inclined you really don't need them.

Gears

Succinct

The Nissan OEM part already had a new ABS sensor ring pressed on, as well as new wheel studs. I'm still kind of baffled why you'd go thru all that trouble to avoid buying OEM. It's not like the original failed after 8 months or anything. To me the drawback of the aftermarket part would be much more than a matter of 5 bucks. Since I usually work on my car at night and/or weekends, it would mean a disruptive stoppage of work plus 1 to 3 days delay in getting the car back on the road. I don't even know of any machine shops close by my house, but if there are any, you can bet none are open on Sunday.

I hate not being able to complete a job once i start it.

Oh well, the OEM part being so easy to install confirmed one thing for me: those dealer service guys practically print their own money don't they?

Love_00_Max

I do get a "roar" sound when declerating and coming to a stop. The "roar" comes from the passenger front side and I am not sure it is the belts (which was replaced recently), PS pump or indeed the wheel bearings. I have done the wiggle test and there is no play. One thing I have noticed as the vehicle gracefully ages the turing radius has kind of increased and it is a bit stiff!!! PS is flushed regularly tough!!!

Now, I have 115K on my maxima, I had to regrease my starter at 60K there was no grease at all on the gears of the starter. A starter that is used so probably few times a day could have the grease all gone, the wheel bearings could be greased-out too right... BTW what is the interval for the bearings to be serviced.

Gears & Crosses

Well it's like this Succinct, I'm kinda baffled that you put a part on your car that you know is going to fail prematurely.

This is my third Maxima. My two prior Maximas had over 100,000 miles on them. My current 4th gen has 150,000 miles on it. I have never, ever had to touch the wheel bearings on these cars, nor have I ever had a hint of trouble. Out of all of the vehicles I have ever owned, I have only had to change a wheel bearing once! It was on my 94 Chevy S10 Blazer and that was after I had driven it through 17" of water and didn't service the bearings (my fault).
There is post after post on this site alone about these bearings failing, front or back- it doesn't matter. There is no doubt in my mind that these bearings are not quality parts and I am just trying to find an alternative. The are instances of these bearings failing under 60,000 miles or less. For me that is less than three years of driving. I am trying not to sink another $110 into this.

I fully understand that the Nissan part is more convenient and cheaper (via DAVEB). You are definitely right about this. I would like to hope that Nissan would improve and refine this part but so far there isn't any proof of this.

The old saying goes:

Do you have time to do it right, or do you have time to do it over?

Gears

Bborges

iTrader: (1)

Yeah... I am on the same position: more $$ and more work and HOPEFULLY a better part, or cheaper and easy install BUT eventually a crappy part?!


I dunno... i think i will get the OEM just because it is easier and also i dont see me with the car for another 80K miles.


But I am with you Gears, it is totally frustrating... and pisses me off too....

ptviperz

Funny, I've got a bad roar coming from my right rear, and I've only got 42K on the clock. Seems premature for a bad bearing but that's all I can think of it being.

Any other ideas? I just keep thinking - no way at 42K

Succinct

It's your rear wheel bearing. Either take my way (EZ labor once every 3 years), or G&C's way (more steps/machine shop involvement, more expense, but hopefully never have to do again). Do your own +/- analysis and decide.

I also believe that there are basic physics in the bearing design (loading/size) that may come into play as much as quality of the bearing, since we don't know the real cause of the early failures on these. What I am trying to say is that the design just may suck and that an aftermarket bearing conforming to original specs may fail as prematurely as did the OEM. There's only so much such a piece can be altered isn't there?

ptviperz

I'll take your way, I like OEM, it isn't a big deal to change or very expensive. Just surprises me that it's bad at this point.

At least it isn't ball joints or tie rod ends.

Succinct

Forgot to mention - make sure your tires aren't cupped back there. My rear bearing roar sounded a lot like noisy cupped tires - except my tires were brand new, so I knew it wasn't that. Sure enough, that first drive after swapping out the bearing was VERY quiet. Big difference! Suddenly I began to like my car...

ptviperz

I have new tires on mine as well, no cupping. Gotta be the bearing.

Sirl

Hey guys,
I'm about to do this on my 03. Bearings are shot at 85k.
Silly question... is there a left and right side to these or are they interchangable? I've sat in the middle of the back seat and I can't tell if its the left or right side. Thinking about just doing both.

Can anyone confirm if its a 30 or 36mm socket and also confirm the torque?? is it 150lbs. Sounds high.

TIA

oldngivout

iTrader: (8)

I would do both. One is bad, the other is not far behind. Just makes sense.

Nut size is 32mm, and 150ft-lbs is about right, give or take. You will understand when you go to remove the first one!

Sirl

Update...
Nut size is 30mm, NOT 32, at least on my 03 SE.
This job was a piece of cake.
Jack up
jack stand
wheel off
caliper off
rotor off
dust cover off (pry with screwdirver)
nut off (torque wrence worked fine)
wheel hub off...

Repeat in reverse order.

Test drive...

In total, maybe a 35 minute job if you dont hit any snags. Car is nice and quiet now.

NewLoveI30

Anyone else notice that all of these guys are on the east coast? Maybe salt and humidity play a large roll in these lower mileage failures. Either way, I guess it's good that it's the rears and not the fronts that seem to be having a problem.

jreddington3

Resurecting an old thread but searched and this seemed to be the most applicable.

Some posters noted using an impact wrench or breaker bar to remove the hub nut. I'm assuming you don't do anything about the crimps on the bolt? Just torque the heck out of it to bend back the crimps? Anyone with ideas on how to undo the crimp?

I'm thinking Dermel tool to cut out the crimped area but might be just easier to go at it with a breaker bar.