Hey guys!

I have to replace a front wheel bearing. Bearing has been bad for a while, but is now sooooo loud, and my ABS light came on. I am assuming at this point they are related, given the sensor, etc.

So the question: do I replace only the bearing, or should I get one of these "all in one kits" that has the bearing and hub, rings, and axle nut?

Also - isn't the front sensor ring on the axle?

Thanks!

Jack

 

Nsk bearing, oem hub. Replace both

 

Thanks! I'm curious, why do you say I should replace the hub? Do they actually wear out?

Jack

 

when i did mine i just replaced the bearing turned out fine... make sure to torque your axle nut real good too to prevent premature bearing wear....

 

You may need a hub, but you can determine that when you pull the assembly. A few years back, I had to replace the passengers front axle bearing & hub on my car. On my car, I had noticed some occasional very minor vibration and some minor noise from the bearing when moving. If the car was lifted off the ground, there was significant play in the passengers side front wheel. When I held the wheel at 6 and 12, and tried to move it toward and away from me, there was a significant amount movement fore and aft.
In the case on my car, there was a major groove worn in the hub that necessitated it to be replaced. I suspect if you have noticeable wheel "looseness" with the car lifted, there is a good chance you would need a hub in addition to the bearing.

 

Thanks for the help, everyone! I got the bearing replaced, and it was easier than I expected.

The hub wasn't damaged in any way, but the bearing, of course, separated on removal.

A few tips, which I may include in another post:

- Rent the 250 ft-lb range torque wrench from O'Reilly Auto Parts. Why? Because the last time I removed the axle nut I put it back on much, much too tightly, and I suspect that's what shortened the life of that bearing, which had been replaced maybe a year earlier.

- Pick up a Bearing Race and Seal Driver Kit from Harbor Freight, item #63261. It sells for $39.99, but you can always get a 20% off coupon. It made driving out the old hub and bearing SO much easier. You still need a big hammer, but it helped. A LOT.

- If you are unfamiliar with the process, there's a pretty good YouTube video that shows you the basics, which I will link below, but would change one thing: In order to drive the hub back into the bearing with much less chance of damaging the new bearing, I slipped the knuckle back over the axle (sort of sideways, I didn't reinstall it), then slip the hub over the axle and just into the bearing. You'll find that just enough of the axle threads protrude so that you can get the axle nut and washer back on. Get it started by hand, and use a socket to pull the hub back into the bearing. In my case, I had a Harbor Freight impact wrench, so I used that to drive the nut on and safely pull the hub back in.

YouTube Link:

Another good one, showing how to seat the hub with an impact wrench. This is Part 3, but you can watch parts one and two as well. It's for a 99, but seems to be the same procedure.

Thanks again for all the help!

Jack

 

i just tightened my axle nut with a pry bar and 2' pipe. it's been 2 years and no bearing issues... if you don't tighten it enough you will have play and slowly wear the bearings out....

 

Oh, well, what I did was use my 150 ft-lb wrench to tighten it, but knowing I had to go to 214, and weighing around 215, I put my breaker bar on, with a pipe, and stood on it to tighten it till it seemed like it would not move any more. I know now that my weight at the end of a lever does NOT mean the same as torque. The original bearings in the front lasted maybe 80k, and I got about 15 out of that one.

It would seem that I excessively tightened it.

Lesson learned.