Rear Bearings

scbird1

Registered User
Just a little reminder that these go out very fast. I installed new tires on the old 93 bird about 5 months ago. Wife says there is noise comming from the rear. I jack her up and OH MY GOD was the bearing shot. I could move the tire about a inch both ways. Now for the even worse. You gotta remove the entire spindle from the half shaft and have it pressed out. If thats not bad enough the price tag on the bearing was $55.00 and another $30.00 to have it pressed back in. I also broke the brake line as it was seized and twisted off the wheel cylinder. Add another $32.00 on to the price tag. If I had the job done at a shop or the stealer ship probly be looking at $300 to $400. I know im getting old here but this is silly. Oh and the spindle nut you should replace, the only one I could find is in Texas and im in Chicago. Road trip or weld the old one on after thread lock and 250 ft pounds of breaker bar with a 5ft pipe. Just make sure you guys check them and if I need to do this on the other side, im hitting the junk yard next time and replaceing the entire spindle.;)
 
Bearings..........AutoZone $19.99

Hub Nut..........Stealership $11.99 ea.

Pressing the bearings...........$30
 
SPINDLE LOCK NUT for a
1993 FORD THUNDERBIRD
REAR (Change)

Not Available at autozone. No dealer has them in my area.

They don`t even list a rear wheel bearing at autozone online.
Napa has a bearing for 22.69 one day warranty or a 49.99 for the oem replacement.
 
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scbird1 said:
im hitting the junk yard next time and replaceing the entire spindle.;)
My 91 lx wiggles like that at passenger rear, I'm going to a u-pull it for that whole spindle as well......As for the nut, if it looks ok, I'll use loctite.
Also, nappaonline has not failed me in price or supply yet, and out of the dozen or so orders for this car, NONE of them were fubar. They get my biz every time if I need new stuff.....Don't go to the Napa store though, those ppl are super rude (at least here anyway)..

paul
 
If you get a new bearing, you really want to make sure it's a timken bearing. That's the OEM maker and really are the best bearing of this type available.

MotorMite has a line that covers the big axle nuts. So you may just need to try a different shop that carries the motormite line for the nuts.
 
Sometimes the rear bearings fail because of improper installation.
You have to support the backside of the bearing (inboard side of the knuckle) while you press in the hub from the outboard side of the knuckle. Otherwise, the bearing may get pushed back out of place. See here for complete procedure. http://www.sccoa.com/articles/rearwheelbearing.php
As far as the axle nut, they are 36mm and not too common. However, Murrays (Chicago area) had them for me in a couple days for about 6 or 7 bucks each (motormite)
 
incorrect offsett wheels(had it happen many yrs back when i had reverse offset wire wheels, when i was 16 :) the bearing got chewed up quick), improper installation and cheap parts.. go oem.. I learned on my bmw recently the hard way, do not go to Autozone, go dealer parts and DIY on most, the rear knckles arent that hard to remove :) just pull the wheels, axle nuts, jack up the a arm and loose'n remove the sway bar end links and shock bolts and kuckle bolts, bring to get pressed out, and new one pressed in, while your there install new bushings, knuckle ones, sway bar end links, and coil spring air bags...:D
 
Best Rear Wheel Bearing

Here's ten days of research boiled down to a paragraph.

Best Priced high quality rear wheel bearing BCA Part# 513058 $28.79 each

www.rockauto.com $5 to ship no tax

Kragen wanted $52.71 for same part AutoZone only had "cheap chinese" brand for $34.71


For those needing rear hubs, Southwest Ford in Weatherford, Texas

Prt# F3SZ-1109-A $109.70

The Mustang hubs #YR3Z-1109-AA are only $76.48 if you
want the 5 x 4.5 pattern.

Local dealer in Orange, Calif. wanted $160.84
http://www.sccoa.com/forums/images/smilies/confused.gif

Checked all aftermarket manufacturers for rear hubs.
I have over a dozen jobbers that I source from ....nada
[forget it!]

BCA makes a great front hub with bearing for $65.79 [also through RockAuto] BCA# 513092 [5 x 4.25]

For under $300 in parts you can refresh all four wheel bearings, hubs and convert to using Mustang/Cobra style wheels.. [or any other 5 x 4.5 Ford]
 
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thats sounds nice and much easier. ive been going crazy trying to figure this out. even though about getting high grade wheel adapters just to make it easier. they go for same price.
 
thats sounds nice and much easier. ive been going crazy trying to figure this out. even though about getting high grade wheel adapters just to make it easier. they go for same price.

You do realize that you're looking at a 4 year old post, and that prices have changed quite a bit since then?

This isn't rocket science, what exactly are you trying to do?
 
yes.. i know

i was just trying to save time and money due to the fact i just put on brand new slotted rotors 4k ago and don't wanna spend a ton money for this project.

i priced out high grade wheel adapter for $280 shipped OR 4 new wheel hubs $350 and/or slotted drilled rod racing rotors for $370= $720
 
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ok i figured that part out already. just trying not to do total brake conversion as of yet. just wanna do hub swap. but all the post say you still have to do cobra rear conversion regardless lol

than have to get knuckles and brackets and all this other bs
 
Swapping the bolt pattern only requires a change in hubs. No adapters or knuckles involved. However, your choice of rear brake rotors (once you are on the Mustang pattern) may give you some trouble. I don't know about the specifics of that, so I won't even try.
 
my bearings never went bad yet in 250 thousand miles , the nut works loose 2 or 3 times and the wheel woobles then i tighten the nut and its all good now i loctited it

ralph
 
yea.. but at same. you're gonna have all that stuff out in the open. why not just change them if you can. have nice fresh hubs/bearings. i hate doing double labor.
 

The problem with just redrilling the MN-12 hubs, is that the Mustang wheels that you put on won't be hub-centric. You'll then need to get adapter rings.

If you go the redrilling route, make sure that it's done right, the last set of redrilled hubs I saw wasn't done very good, and we couldn't even use it.

Basically, you have two choices:

1. Redrill your stock hubs, have your current brakes redrilled, and use adapter rings.

2. Use all SN-95 components, hubs, brakes, etc.
 
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