suspendedHatch

I bought a 97 Integra GSR a few months ago. It had a bad wheel bearing when I bought it which helped me get a low price on it. I took off the knuckle and had Sears press in a new bearing. It went bad the next day. I went to the junkyard and got a used knuckle. It was good when installed (no play in the wheel) but immediately went bad upon test drive. I got yet another used knuckle. This time the bearing lasted 3 months and now it's bad again.

This is absolutely insane. I've replaced wheel bearings before and never had them go bad again. This is on the front passenger side. What is going on? Could it be that I'm not tightening the axle nut down enough? I have a pneumatic impact but I used it with the wheel off the ground. I've done this in the past on SOHC Civics and never had a problem. Just now I took the wheel cap off and tightened the nut with the wheel on the ground and the axle nut tightened slightly. Could it have been loose enough to kill the wheel bearing? I threw a new axle nut on there for the time being but it didn't improve the looseness of the hub.

The hub is so loose that the brake rotor is hitting the caliper and the abs sensor rubs the pulser. It's catastrophic. The worst I've ever experienced in the past is just a rubbing sound.

Could it be the wrong axle or something? Autozone gave me the same axle they give you for the LS, but the Acura website shows two different part numbers. 44010-S04-J51 for LS and 44010-ST7-J61 for GSR. Both have ABS so I wonder what accounts for the difference in part number.

FlatBlkEk

are you using a shop compressor or a little rinky ding 5 gallon compressor to put that nut on ? and when you received the used part did you spin the hub on the knuckle to see if its smooth or tight/ binding

suspendedHatch

Well it's an 8 gallon compressor for home use. You can put it down if you want to but I consider myself lucky to have one when most people don't. Anyway it maxes out at 115 PSI and my 1/2 inch impact is pretty decent considering it has never failed me on anything on the car... crank pulley, axle nuts in the air, trans bolts etc. But it's not a name brand.

It has always been good enough for my previous cars (I've had 3 Civics and one DA). All of them I've had the axle nuts off and re-torqued with my puny home compressor. Maybe it's not good enough for my GSR? If so, I can use a breaker bar and my body weight. I never knew that a loose axle nut could destroy a wheel bearing (is that what you are suggesting?).

Each replacement in turn was fine when installed. I'm a certified safety tech. I use the wheel to rock the hub side-to-side and up-and-down. I expect there to be no play. And it should spin freely except for the brakes dragging slightly. And no whirring sound when you drive the car.

Currently when I take a left turn I hear a loud squeal of the brake rotor contacting the bracket and the ABS sensor contacting the pulse ring on the axle. Not good.

Thank you for the response.