I replaced a wheel bearing the other day, easy, no problem at the time, now I've got a problem.

I replaced it per the FSM, and when I was done there was no play detectable, as it should be. However I did notice that the cylinder of the HUB, which is the part that actually presses into and makes contact with the inner races of the front wheel bearing, has a small "step" in the surface - very small, perhaps a hundredth or a couple hundredths of an inch (I should have measured it, but I didn't). From looking at the way it is designed, I would say that step is NOT supposed to be there, but the FSM makes no mention of watching out for that, and there is no measurement listed in the service data specifications for me to compare the wheel hub diameter to.

So the problem is, that now when I was going to install the steering knuckle back on the car, i noticed there was significant axial play in the bearing, probably about 1mm, which is FAR FAR more than the allowable .05mm listed in the FSM.

This will probaby be virtually impossible for anyone who hasn't actually disassembled a wheel bearing to visualize, but the inner race is a two piece race, both are on the inside diameter of the wheel bearing. One is the inner race that is towards the inside of the car (towards the engine) and one is the inner race that is towards the outside of the car, towards the wheel. I noticed while spinning the hub in the bearing, that the inside inner race at some points would actually NOT SPIN even though the hub was spinning, meaning there wasn't significant contact between the wheel hub cylinder, and the inner race... which NOW makes sense because of the slightly reduced diameter of the wheel hub cylinder which I mentioned at first, the slight "step" present on the wheel hub. I've realized now that the play in the wheel bearing is because the hub is not pressed tightly on the inside inner race of the wheel bearing, and is free to slide out - I think this is a major problem.

Insight on this? My instinct is telling me that this is NOT good, and that the wheel hub is worn down and causing this problem. I really want to get the damn car back on he road, it's been down for a couple weeks waiting on parts, and I was all set to get it back together tonight and then I realized this problem. I think I need a new wheel hub, but with the long weekend there's no way I can get one by this weekend unless I can find a used one at a yard locally, which I'm about to go look for. Let me know what you think of the situation.

 

Although I haven't done a wheel bearing on the maxima (yet...thanks warranty), it sounds like the inner hub was worn down by the previous bearing (was it a very "bad" bearing that might have been seizing?). I'm going to be tackling a bearing fairly soon here too, so I have interest in this question as well - but from the info you provide it doesn't sound good. I've heard many times about the inner hub being worn down and needing replacement (on both Maximas and other cars)...I think you may need to hit a junkyard tomorrow - most yards are open saturday mornings until about noon in most places!

btw, how did you press the bearing out??

 

I used one of our presses at work. I work at a trans shop so we have lots of good tools around for doing this sort of thing. The most difficult part was finding tools of the right size to fit on the bearing races. Now that I know what things to use, I could do another wheelbearing in probably half an hour. It took me about 2 hours to do the first time, like I said most of the time spent searching and brainstorming for implements of the right size to fit on the bearing race but not be too big or too small to interfere with other parts of the spindle, the structure of the press, etc. I also had to extensively modify a set of snap ring pliers because the way the snap rings are in the spindle is retarded, and I had to put some things on the lathe to cut them down to size to use.

If you have a press available it's pretty easy.

I did some searching on car-part.com and found about 12 or so steering knuckles within 2 hours of me, like 4 within an hour of me. I'm going to call some of the yards in my city tomorrow to see if they might have one not listed on car part.com, if not, then I'll take some time off work or maybe go saturday morning. I'm just worried if they'll be open this saturday because of the holiday weekend.

After reading on motorvate.ca the how to he wrote up of how to do it without a press, I honestly would tell you to just take it to a machine shop, I was quoted $40-50 at a Napa machine shop back a few days ago when I was feeling lazy. Then I decided to just do it myself, figured it couldn't be too hard and it wasn't.

I think you are right about the hub having been worn down by the bad bearing. There was no binding that I could detect, it spun smoothly but loosely, and there was 1-2mm of play, which if you do the math is 20-40 times the allowable play per the FSM. The only reason I checked the wheel bearing is because at low speeds, like when driving through a parking lot, I could hear a whining noise that I assumed was a wheel bearing, and since I was doing lower control arms I decided to check the play, and sure enough, it was really sloppy.

 

Found a pic of a 4th gen hub online... I see no step (though it's not the closest pic)... looks like mine is worn out like I thought.

 

There is not supposed to be a step. This is what happens when a wheel bearing goes out and isnt fixed in time. Ive had to replace both of mine. $180 from DaveB.

 

I totally forgot -

Here's a pic fo the hub that I pulled out of the old spindle in my basement - the bearing was completely wrecked after my encounter last year with highway debris (if you recall, it bent my strut, cracked the bearing, etc) - I drove for 2 days with the bearing shot (leaking oil/grease and very loud) and you can see where it wore the hub, but it still isn't as bad as what yours sounds like:

 

Got a spindle today from the junk yard and replaced the hub in my original spindle with the new hub. Good to go.

The hub is supposed to have a diameter of 42.00mm, mine had been worn down to about 41.80mm, small difference but significant in it's implications.

 

Here's mine -- thumbnails for the broadband-impaired, click to see them bigger:



Yeah, that was one effed-up hub.

 

Ho-ly crap. That is a worn out hub. Like I said, my step was 0.10mm. Yours is probably like 5mm.

Edit: wait, is the bearing sleeve still on the hub in those pics?

 

No, that's just the hub itself.

You should have heard the noises that thing made....

 

yeah, I think the inner section of the bearing is still on there....odd.

 

Oh, duh. Sorry, yes it is. What I was pointing out was the lip at the top. Is that not what we were talking about?

 

ah ok....well, the lip shouldn't be there either.

 

well there shouldn't be a step anywhere it should be perfectly uniform at 42.00mm diameter, but what I was talking about is in the middle of the hub, like in the pic Irish posted.

 

Ah okay.


10bits

 

yup.. as you guys have already said, that's pretty normal when a bearing goes out.

that's why I always recommend replacing the hub when you replace a wheel bearing. most of the time I just buy a used spindle from the junkyard and new bearing from the dealer. then use the old hub w/ new bearing, after checking the hub out. if it's in bad shape, then I take it back to the junkyard and have them get me another knuckle. winds up costing me $35-50 for a spindle and $35 for the bearing this way.

That's also why you usually change wheel bearings in pairs. if one knuckle is dead, the other isn't far behind. (unless you're like me and most of the tracks you run on are counter-clockwise... so you end up with many more left-hand turns than right and your right side bearing goes out much more often)..

 

What other symptoms are there of a bad wheel bearing besides the play in the hub? As noted, my driver's side WB and hub were both in bad shape, noticeable play there before I ever took it apart. My passenger side has no play whatsoever. I here a very slight squeaking noise at slow speeds from the car still, even after replacing the driver's side bearing, but I can't confirm that it's coming from the passenger side WB... could be coming from either of the rear ones too. It sounds like it's coming from the passenger side, but I mostly only hear it in areas where the sound echoes off buildings or other objects, and only at very low speeds (<15mph).

 

wow, you didn't get the low-pitched "roar" that bad bearings usually make?

 

No, the car did not make any unusual noises whatsoever. I just happened to grab the hub while I was doing the control arm install and noticed it was wobbly.