Front Hub Assembly and Bearing help.

[rudeone707]

I took my car to michellin tire center today to have them check out a couple of the noises that i have been hearing. They told me that my bearing is going out (which i already knew) and that i would need a new hub assembly because you cant just replace the bearings. Does that sound right? Usually when i had a bad bearing thats all i would have to change. Thanks for tha help.

Rude

 

[2L8ULUZ2]

I took my car to michellin tire center today to have them check out a couple of the noises that i have been hearing. They told me that my bearing is going out (which i already knew) and that i would need a new hub assembly because you cant just replace the bearings. Does that sound right? Usually when i had a bad bearing thats all i would have to change. Thanks for tha help.

Rude

Yes that is right our cars have a sealed bearing/hub assembly and do not have standard replaceable wheel bearings like the fox cars did. Personally I like that older set up since it's cheaper to deal with. The assembly is about 70.00 or so for each side.

 

[rudeone707]

Im about to order a hub assembly through my dad from ford so i can change it out tonight. Is swapping out pretty easy? About ow long to you think it will take? Are there any special tools i need? Will Chilton tell me everything i need to know?

 

[RIO5.0]

That assy is tit....just remove the dust cap, remove the nut and blam..its off, nothing to it...

 

[rudeone707]

Do i have to remove the rotor or can i do it intact? I took off the dust cap last night and i seen a black retainer clip that looks like a nut, is that what you are talkin about? What size is that, i dont seem to have anything big enough to fit over it, the biggest socket i have is a 1 1/8.

 

[RIO5.0]

its actually easier if you remove the rotors...they slide on and off like nothing anyway....if you still have those stock little clips around the wheels studs. it'll hold the rotor on, if they're missing then the rotors gonna wanna fall off anyway when you remove the caliper...


EDIT....My mistake...I just went and checked my Haynes manual...WOW...your gonna need that socket...that mofo is TQ'd to...get this...221-295 ft lbs...and the book states its "very tight" thats an understatement...
Got this one confused with my truck....its the tit one...

 

[Rootus]

that mofo is TQ'd to...get this...221-295 ft lbs...and the book states its "very tight" thats an understatement..

"Tight"... I'd want a 5-foot cheater bar for that one...

Dave

 

[rudeone707]

oh chit, guess im headin down to sears to get me some new sockets, do you happen to know what size it is?

 

[rockin_rick]

Size = 36mm, you can rent one from Autozone.

That black retainer clip is part of the nut. It's all one piece. A new one from ford is about $8.00 (as of a couple months ago).

Rick

 

[Killercanary]

I think I'm in need of doing this myself. I have my brakes off the car now as I'm installing PBR calipers. I noticed that my hub seems awefully hard to turn. I mean it will not make even one full rotation when I spin it by hand. Is this normal??? I would think this is adding drag to my car as I'm going down the road/drag strip. SO I definitely want to change it if its a problem. I don't feel any play in it in terms of in-out or up-down movement... that's how I've always checked wheel bearings before... maybe this is wrong. Any help is appreciated guys.
Rude, how the hell did you torque it to 250ftlbs???

Here's another link for those searching on the subject...
http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=419816&highlight=wheel+bearings

 

[rudeone707]

you should be able to turn it by hand very easy so there is a problem there.

I have a torque wrench that goes up to 200 ft lbs, so after that i guessed by putting 2 breaker bars together and applying the same amount of force that i used to take it off. Then every couple days i kept checking to make sure the bolt was still tight.

 

[95GtTopLess]

How do you check bearings? Are front and rear same??

 

[rockin_rick]

Oreilly's loaner torque wrench goes up to 250ft-lb, that's what I used since my torque wrench only went up to 200. The spec is (like Andy said) 221-295, so I took it to 250 to account for any possible errors in the readings of the wrench.

I think that it's normal for the hub to not be easily spun. I changed out both of mine, and I seem to remember them being hard enough to spin that they wouldn't go around once.

Rick

 

[Killercanary]

Rick, were the new ones that hard, or the old ones? It will NOT make one full revolution no matter how hard I spin it by hand.

 

[rockin_rick]

The new ones wouldn't spin freely. I used new nuts and torqued them to spec.

I "believe" that it's supposed to have some drag. I actually had 1 old one that would spin round a couple times, I figured it was bad. It was a different hub than the one on the other side. The ABS exciter ring was different than the other side, and different from my new ones. It (the exciter ring) was more of a stamped design kinda like the rears, while the new ones were more solid, and machined. Since I don't know the maintenence history of my car, I assumed that the loose, spinning, stamped exciter ringed hub was most likely OEM, while the other one (the tighter one) was a newer replacement. I only replaced both of them because I'm working over everthing else.

Perhaps you could put the car up on a jack stand(s), mount a wheel, and give it a wiggle test. Also check to see if it spins smoothly. Perhaps the idea that it should spin freely comes from spinning it with a wheel mounted, where the inertia from the weight of the wheel will overcome the drag and allow it to spin round a few times.

Maybe someone else could post their findings on this to confim or deny my theory...

Rick

 

[rockin_rick]

Oreilly's loaner torque wrench goes up to 250ft-lb

Rick

Hey, just a little reminder on Oreilly's loaner program. I just had their fuel line disconnect tool, and the receipt said that you had to return it within 48 hours or no refund. I almost missed that deadline not knowing that...

Rick