Rear whell bearing HELP

MikeM

Registered User
I was going to do a bearing job 2morrow, can I do it in my driveway or do I need that speacial hub removing tool?

I have looked in both the Haynes manual and a Ford Shop guide and there is no listing in either book for a rear wheel bearing.

Anyone ever done these before? If so, can I get a step-by-step?

Thanx

-Mike
 
U remove the rear wheel spindle and the bearing is pressed into it.U will need a torch and a press to get it out and to install the new one!
 
Actually the wheel bearing is pressed into the rear knuckle and the wheel hub is pressed into the bearing. You are going to need access to a press for sure but doubtful a torch is required. You will need to buy a new hub retaining nut and might want to plan on having a new hub available since there is a good chance if the bearing is shot...so is the hub. 32mm socket for the hub retaining nut. You will have to remove the knuckle from the car.
 
What visual signs can I look for to see if the hub is shot? and I hope the rear hubs aren't as pricey as the front ones......
 
From the Literature section of the SCCoA:

Rear Wheel Bearing Installation

(I believe the hub nut is a 36mm.)

The hub can be damaged when a bad bearing is run too long. The knuckle can also get wallowed out in some cases. If you can move the hub side to side or up and down, you definately have a bad bearing and might have a damaged hub. The damage will be apparent once you press out the hub.
 
Both times I replaced right side rear wheel bearings the hub was torn up. The hub spun in the bearing and wore down the inner end of the hub cylindrical portion. The last time I even had damage to the inner end of the hub itself as it looked like the hub had been moving in and out along the axis of the axle/ half shaft shaft.

Another hint....torquing of the hub retaining nut on reassembly is CRITICAL and requires 250 Ft-Lbs of torque. Get a torque wrench that will allow you to obtain the reading in the middle 2/3 of the range of the wrench. You might also consider dabbing some paint across the nut and axle/Half Shaft end so you can quickly tell if th4e nut begines to back off in the future.

George may be right on the nut size....my memory is not as good as it used to be. Too much other useless trivia with limited application floating around in my head these days.
 
Thanx for your help and the step-by-step. Maybe 2morrow isn't a good day to do it after all, seems like a lot of work to do in such little time.

Do you happen to remember how much a rear hub costs? Maybe I'll pick one up to be on the safe side.
 
I replaced my back left bearing the day before christmas in the morning before I had to go to work. You have 3 18mm nuts and bolts holding the spindle to the car. Get the brakes out of the way and its easy. And yes it needs to be pressed in at a machine shop. My hub was toast, had to be replaced, and the retaining nut it $9.95 at ford and is 36mm and I used lots of loctite red on that thing. It came loose and that allowed the wheel to wobble and the hub was damaged.

Its an easy 10 minute job to remove and 10 minutes to replace and figure an hour in between for driving to and from the machine shop and having it pressed.

I started mine at 7:30 am and had to get a hub from a junk yard luckily it was from a 97 sport w/ rear discs. Then I got it back together and made it to work and still got 8.5 hours that day.

But I'm just good like that. I did a write up somewhere lemme see if I can dig it up.
 
Scott,

Just last night found out that I had a bad bearing and need to go through this. May I ask where you got the tool to pull the Hub? Is it possible that AutoZone or some shop similar that rents tools would have one? Or what did you use?

Thanks
Greg
 
Greg, there isn't a need for a special tool. Any shop that has an arbor press can get the hub and bearing out and press in the new parts. I have done this repair in my workshop with the arbor press I have.

Go to the link in my previous post and you can view the whole procedure.
 
George,

Thanks for the heads up on the post. In the shop manual, they state a special tool to remove the hub off the half shaft. I see that a three jaw puller will do the same job. I see no problem getting one of those tools. Any words of wisdom on how to verify if the hub and knuckle is still good before pressing out and in a new bearing? I would like to know before doing all that work and so I can get a new hub or knuckle or both if needed.

Thanks for you time in advance.
Greg
 
If the hub is damaged, more than likely it will be real loose in the bearing once the half-shaft is removed. The knuckle is usually only damaged if a bad bearing has been run for a while and the outer race of the bearing has turned in the knuckle. This may not be completely apparent until the bearing is pressed out.

If you knuckle is bad, you'll probably need to get a used one. The new ones were really expensive from Ford and I beleive they are now obsolete.
 
What are they symptoms of a bad bearing/hub? Can you tell it by the car driving differently somehow?
 
Usually, it makes a noise which sounds like its coming from the wheels as the car starts to roll. The noise usually gets softer/louder as the speed of the car varys.
 
I noticed that my car was a little loose in the turns. This was at a high rate of speed like 60 to 70 mph. At 55mph, you could hardly feel it. And slower than that, was nothing. It just felt like the road was grooved out and the car was following the groove. Fishtailing. So when I got home, I checked the rear suspension. Everything looked tight so I lifted the car up and moved my rear wheels from side to side and top to bottom. Loose as a goose, and I mean bad. Can't believe that I could move the wheel side to side about 1/2". The other side, tight as can be. No movement at all. Hope this helps.

Greg
 
I hear a humming noise at highway speeds, and a grinding noise at city speeds (which gets amplified during braking). When I turn right (left rear wheel bearing is the pooched one), it feels like the back end is shifting outwards....not a good feeling.
 
Thanks for the information. I'm trying to learn warning signs. I know the front end is ok, not as sure about the rear. I don't get the noise, but the wandering feeling is a possibility. Roads are bad, so it may be that. I'll keep an eye on it.

Thanks!
 
The first time my right rear wheel bearing was bad the car was EXTREMELY twitchy and would follow every undulation or wear groove in the road. The second time it was only under heavy acceleration I would notice the rear end feel like it was setting sideways.
 
Back
Top