My left front wheel bearing starting grinding last week. With it raised the tire had very little wobble from 3 to 9 o'clock. After removing the tire and caliper I couldn't feel the hub wobbling but could feel it grinding as I rotated it slowly by hand. I removed the axle from the hub and neither one had spline damage.

Instead of wait until the hub gets damaged I ordered Timken wheel bearings (2), seals (4), and snap rings (4) from rockauto for ~$100 today.

I have a heavy bench vise and a 20 ton shop press in my garage so the only tool I'll be renting is the bearing race and seal driver set.

The Front Axle FSM seems to gives good details on how to replace the front wheel bearings. After dropping the knuckle off the car it appears I'll have to first throw it on the vise and pop off the hub assembly. The next steps are removing the seals then the clips. The final step in the disassembling process is pressing out the wheel bearing in the shop press from the outer side. The assembling process is nearly reversal but to press the hub onto the knuckle I'll utilize a used axle to get it aligned onto the knuckle.

Just asking for any corrections or extra tips from members who have already replaced their front wheel bearings? Thanks in advance!

 

I've replaced my passenger side front bearing. I had to use sockets and a hammer. It seems you have all the right ideas. Be careful pressing the new bearings into the knuckles, if htey get cocked at all they will start gouging the cast steel knuckle. Its easy to screw up fast with a press. Take the rotor dust shieds off if you intend to do big brakes.

 

I'm not encouraging one not to DIY things but most local shops will press your old bearings out and install your new ones for about $70/ea.

 

Sometimes it makes sense to take either the car or a portion of the car to a shop.
The shop will have expensive tools which we do not have, or make much sense to either buy or rent.

 

I just got a used knuckle from a local junk yard for $50, much easier to replace knuckle than to replace the bearing, that was 30k miles ago and it is still good so far.

 

+1 I do the same.

 

Replacing the front wheel bearings was easier than suspected. Dropping the knuckle and reinstalling it is just as time consuming as replacing the hub, bearings, seals, and clip. The hardest task was popping off the hub assembling. Dorman's only cost $18 each so I decided to press on new hub assemblies.

I also dropped the LCAs and pressed on Moog K9818 polyurethane ball joints that have zerk fittings.

Got a 4 wheel alignment done the day after completing this project. Drove her 240 miles the last 2 days and she ran smooth. Alignments and yearly inspections are the only tasks I pay mechanics for.



I decided to cut off those badly rusted dust shields. The ceramic pads give off very little dust.

 

FWIW, I think the "dust" shields are there to protect the rotors. If your CV boot tears and starts throwing grease on the rotor, you'll lose braking on that side.

 

The rotors are a good bit outboard of the CV boots. not much chance of the grease getting on them.

 

Does the car perform better?

Also how did Nissan do it at the Oppama plant? Did they have a Japanese press crew that pressed bearings/hubs in all day?

 

With no more grinding noise on the left wheel she rides much smoother. That's due to the fact the left front OEM wheel bearing was torn away.

 

98 Max with 208k: Ok I need new front wheel bearings. They are grinding really bad. I have to get it done cause I'm not that handy and I don't have a press. Do they have to remove at least 1 of the tie rods to remove the knuckle? If so I was going to replace the tie rods while I was at it. I already bought both inner and outer tie rods on both front sides - fairly cheap. I was going to try to build the tie rod replacement into the price.



Work recently done: Both front CV shafts, both front control arms with ball joins, and both front control rods.

 

Yes. The outer tie rod. I recently replaced my own inner and outer tie rods. However, I do not have a press and sent the knuckles out to get new bearings and seals installed.

 

Do they remove both ends of the OUTER tie rod? If so... I hope the labor is the same. I'm getting quotes (labor only) for each side for just the wheel bearing - so $200 total.

 

If you are replacing the inners, then yes. Also, I got an alignment after replacing the tie rods.

 

Just did mine too. One side at a time. Did the right first when like JHolley, the left was the major culprit. Hard to tell where the noise comes from with one good ear. Wife is useless in this regard.

I had bought new dust shields a while back because I was tired of them somehow moving and rubbing on the rotors. They were quite corroded. When I got them, I was quite surprised to see they were just pressed on to the steering knuckle and no bolts were involved.

So when the bearings went, it was time to get it done. Getting the knuckle off only took 90 minutes. Then I brought everything to a mechanic that I use when it's over my head and have a good relationship with. He swapped out the bearings (NSK). retainer clips (Timken), seals (APC) and added a little grease and pressed the original hubs back in as they were fine. (usually are, unless not addressed in a reasonable amount of time).

But when it came time to replace the shields, that was another story. The area where the shield and knuckle marry was so corroded on both, the shields wouldn't stay on. I called Nissan to see if there was some sort of crimper to get it secure. NOPE. So Joe went around it with his MIG welder and tac'd it in place in about 15 spots around the circle.

In my twisted brain, I would have liked to also have new knuckles and sand blast both the area of the knuckle and shield and then paint them with Rust Bullet paint and add more wet paint to the marrying area when pressing them together. Let it cure and then install. The black paint on the new shields is NOT up to par IMO.

For any of you doing your own work on your bearings that has ABS...... NEVER try too remove the sensor from the knuckle. Disconnect it just inside the wheel well next to the engine and unclip and remove the 3 screws holding the line, as well as the grommet. The bolt on the steering knuckle will NOT come out and you will shear the head off. Don't ask me how I know!

Congrats JHolley! That grinding sound is BEYOND unnerving when driving out of the driveway. Never mind anywhere else!

 

Thanks for responding. I really appreciate it but I'm not sure if my question was answered. IF I get my wheel bearing replaced do they have to take off any tie rods ENTIRELY? The reason I'm asking is... IF they are, there is no reason for them to charge me more labor if we are just swapping out tie rods. He has to put the old one back on anyway - why not put on the new one. It's the same amount of work.


IF they do have to take off a tie rod which one is it? Inner? Outer? Both?


Thanks!

 

To remove the knuckle, the outer tie rod end (little ball joint on the end) must be disconnected. However, that end is not the entire tie rod.

 

Gotcha. Thanks for clarification!

 

+1 for paying a shop to press the bearings.

Years ago I paid an independent mechanic to replace my driver's side wheel bearing. Recently when the passenger side became noisy I decided to do it myself. I pulled the knuckle and took it to a family owned shop that works on my company's semi trucks. Positioning the knuckle in the press and finding the right size pieces to press everything in and out was a nightmare. We eventually got it together, but the dust shield required a lot of "massaging" to keep from scraping the rotor when I went to reassemble everything much later in the evening than I had planned.

 

Knowing those front dust shields were somehow crimped onto the knuckle I didn't bother replacing them but just cut off that corroded junk. The rear dust shields are bolted directly onto the rear torsion beam so when I replaced the rear beam I bolted on new dust shields.

In case anyone searches for these shields Nissan labels them as Baffle Plates!

 

As CS already stated only the outer section of the outer tie rod needs to be removed to drop the knuckle in regards to steering material. All the brake parts, strut bolts, outer drive shaft and LCA ball joint nut also need to dropped off the knuckle.

When replacing either the wheel bearing or the outer and inner tie rods an alignment will be needed. Get the wheel bearings pressed in and new outer and inner tie rods replaced all at once followed with an alignment.