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When to replace wheel bearings?

E

elks

1/2 ton status
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NW Colorado
So last weekend hunting I noticed a little abnormal movement in my steering. Today I get the front end up and find that my passenger side tire to wiggle. Closer inspection indicates that the entire hub is wiggling. At any rate, I take things apart and find where the out hub nut was tight as hell. Get it pulled and the inner was loose. Before taking it all the way apart, I tighten up the inner nut and all movement gone. Things roll smooth etc.

I take a look at the outer bearing and the race. They look good, but what would I need to find/feel/see in order to determine replacement?

The bearings have not been in all that long, like 2,000 miles max and I really can't tell a difference between them and haw they were new. minus the grease etc....

Thanks a bunch. I am probably going to put it together and hunt this weekend, but am curious what to look for to determine replacement. The hub has never gotten warm at all...
 
I try to repack my bearings every year. I look for signs of wear, if they spin good are quite no signs of galling on the bearing or race I leave em.

I have had those bearings last a very long time before. Had probably 10k miles on a blazer with a 10 bolt front and 38s, I didn't replace the bearings when I got the 10 bolt just repacked em, and did so couple of times a year. No problems with those at all.

Sold the axle and I know the guy didn't replace me and put at least 15k more on his truck before he sold it.

So they last a good long time with proper maintenance.
 
Wheel bearings on our rigs will just about last forever if they are adjusted properly and greased properly. Things to look for are any pitting of the races and rollers, flaking of chrome on the rollers, cage is intact and not bent distorted and binding against the rollers. The other thing that people sometimes overlook when they are doing bearing work is to make sure the races DO NOT spin in the hub, if they do the hub is bad and needs to be replaced.
 
4X4HIGH said:
Wheel bearings on our rigs will just about last forever if they are adjusted properly and greased properly. Things to look for are any pitting of the races and rollers, flaking of chrome on the rollers, cage is intact and not bent distorted and binding against the rollers. The other thing that people sometimes overlook when they are doing bearing work is to make sure the races DO NOT spin in the hub, if they do the hub is bad and needs to be replaced.
Click to expand...

That is not always true. Some bearing cups vary in size by .001", lots of axles use a LM104911 bearing cup and I believe they are available in a LM104910, LM104911 and LM104912. Loctite makes some bearing mount that will work for small gaps.

Gus
 
I've re-used wheel bearing that looked in good shape on most of my trucks with no troubles at all....had a few hubs that had wear from a spun bearing that I "fixed" by using steel shim stock (from an old set of feeler gauges I couldn't read the sizes printed on them any more,all I had hanging around then!),and it seemed to work OK,I did replace the hub eventually when I got one free a few months later though...............................................................................................I'm somewhat confused on the adjustment process on 4wd front wheel bearings though--I've always tightened up the inner nut while spinning the wheel,to about 50 ft. lbs,then backed it off until I felt a sight amount of play,only a barely detectable amount,then installed the dowel pin washer and the outer nut....my friend says I am not doing it right,he says he always just tightened the inner nut until NO play exists,then installes the dowel pin washer and outer lock nut,and if the pin dont line up,he tightens it more till it will,not less!--he claims he's done hundreds that way without any comebacks from the bearings burning up from being "too tight".......I'm now unsure who is "right",though a few manuals I read say to use the procedure I used...I wonder if that slight amount of play would add up to the steering not feeling as tight as it could be...
 
55 lb's, than back it off a 1/4 turn, pin it...
 
Thats how I was taught, tighten till no play, back off 1/4 turn. Ended up being around 50lbs. Never had a prob. I always take mine apart once or twice a year for a grease job all new seals and to see whats going on inside.
 
the backing off the qrter turn is the critical part in the process..
 
My wheel bearing experience is a little different from most of you. Properly installed, with good grease, the bearings in my Ford will last for many thousands of miles.

Unless I have a wet hunting season. Then, they get pulled, the water drained out, and inspected.
I usually find some pitting, so they get tossed.

Since I started using the spindle bearing greaser, it takes a lot deeper water to get into them.
The grease dam inside the spindle stops water from coming in that way.

The installation is critical.

For used bearings, I do the 50 and loosen 1/4. Its important that there is NO looseness in the bearing.
If there is, hitting bumps at speed will eventually chip them as they slop around and the impact hits on smaller areas.

Having said that, too tight will cause them to fail rapidly due to heat.

However, NEW bearings and races get a different install.

If yours were put in new, I suspect this is why you found them loose unless they were installed loose or the locating pin was broken or not in the hole.

With new bearings and races, I keep tightening while turning the hub until I can barely turn it, or not turn it at all.
I get them really tight.

No matter how hard you drive the races in, or how hard you seat the back bearing on the spindle, its not uncommon for them to not be completely seated, or not square with the final load.

The first tightening seats them.

Then I back the nut off all the way until its loose and the hub is wobbly.

After that, I tighten it back up to about 50 and back off the 1/4.

If I'm in the swamp with no tools to speak of, I usually tighten it tight to start with, back it off until a small amount of slop.

Then back tight until all the slop is gone and give them another small amount of tight.
If the holey washer does not line up, I first turn it over. Sometimes that does it.

If not, I either go the shortest amount of turn to line it up, or err on the side of tight.
I feel that slightly too tight is worse than too loose.

Note I said slightly.
 
I do what fordum does. Has worked for me for many years of good bearing maintenance. When I was daily driving mine I checked my bearings twice a year to get them fresh grease and check the bearings and spindle.
 
Procedures can vary somewhat between manufacturers but there are some key things to remember:
With a 2 bearing nut system the inner nut is the adjuster and as the nut moves up against the bearing the nut is moved toward the outside as much as thread tolerance will allow. Then some sort of lock mechanism, followed by the outer, lock, nut. The outer nut forces the inner nut toward the inside as much as thread tolerance will allow. In other words if you started with 0 end play on the adjuster nut will now give you a slight amount of preload, this is dependent on how much tolerance there is between the threads of the spindle and the adjuster nut.
With a single bearing nut system (nylock and wedge, etc.) there isn't a change added by the outer nut like a 2 nut system so the procedure may be different.
Another key part of this whole procedure is the fact that tapered bearings need to seat. If you simply install a tapered bearing without rotating the hub as you tighten the bearing the bearing will not be seated and you've just thrown the whole adjustment procedure out the window. Try installing a bearing and just tighten it down to a specified torque, say 50 ft. lbs., now rotate the hub 5 complete rotations and retorque and see how much the nut moves.

Most service manuals that I've seen will recommend something like .010 to .000 end play with the adjusting nut and then tighten only far enough to align the locking mechanism.

Gus
 
I treat my wheel bearings like absolute garbage....
I also go through 2 sets a year.

Be kind to your bearings. :D
 
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