76 camaro car

For awhile now I have had a humming noise coming from the front of my 94 accord that has steadily gotten louder. It sounds like the hum large truck tires make. The sound changes when I turn the wheels .I have determined it is a front wheel bearing. I want to replace both front bearings but due to the complexity of the job involved and the fact that I need the money to buy my children christmas I just want to do the bad bearing now and the other one sometime next month. How can I tell which bearing is the bad one? I watched a Eric the car guy video on how to replace them and think I can do the job at home. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks

holmesnmanny

Its about a half hour for me to pull the knuckle. It should take you about an hour to 1:15 or so. Then take it down to a mechanic with a shop press(call around)and pay him $35 or so press out the bearing and in with the new.

This is the short version. Before doing anything unstake the axle nut. Hopefully you have ex model which means you have access to the nut through the wheel after removing the cap. Break loose the axle nut. Remove wheel after supporting car with a jackstand. Remove brake line bolts from the knuckle. Remove caliper from knucke and set it/support on something so no pressure is pulling on the brake lines at all Remove castle nut from lower control arm. Using a Pittman Puller, pop loose the lower ball joint. Using Pittman Puller pop loose the tie rod. Finish removing axle nut. Pop loose the upper ball joint from upper control arm using Pittman Puller after removing castle nut. Lift knuckle out of lower control arm while pushing axle out of the the knuckle. Immediately put castle nut back on lower ball joint to protect the threads. If the ball joint threads get ruined you can plan on buying another balljoint Take knuckle to mechanic. Installation is reversal. Ask any questions here as needed.

If you dont have an ex then remove wheels after supporting car on jackstands, start the car. Ask someone to press the brakes as hard as they can and remove the axle nut with a 36mm nut and a breaker bar with a cheater bar/metal pipe around it for more leverage. Jump on pipe as needed to break it loose. With the car on you will be using the brake booster to help hold the wheel still. I like to put a jack directly under the axle nut socket so the axle nut stays straight as i jump on the pipe and doesnt strip the axle nut threads by going **** eyed.

Also its possible that the hub is bad whenever you have noise on a bad bearing. The mechanic should be able to tell you if its reusable.

76 camaro car

Thanks for the help. My car is a LX so I will have to use the 2nd method you discribed. Is there a way to tell which side it is that is bad? Im sure they both could use replaced but right now I just want to do the troubled side. The car has 281k on it. I bought it at 112K and have never done the bearings.

MAD_MIKE

Raise the car at the jack point on one side to get the ONE of the front wheels off the ground, the other is on the ground. Chock wheels on the ground.
Turn the engine on and place the car in gear and increase speed to about 30MPH on the speedo. With one tire on the ground and the other freewheeling the actual speed of the freewheeling(powered) wheel will be double or 60MPH. Depending on which bearing is bad, or worse, it should make some noise.

If you want to hold off on the bearing til after Christmas, a quick 'fix' would be to simply ustake the stub axle nut, loosen, and re-torque the nut. Retest again like above to verify the noise has been reduced. For science, mark where the nut is BEFORE loosening it, and then note how much the nut moved to tighten the axle back. Might get another 30°, depending on how worn the races are, out of the nut. This will not remove all the noise, but it usually reduces the sound quite a bit, from growling to sandy.

Wheel bearings last about 100Kmiles.

The easiest way I've found to loosening/tightening the stub nut is to remove the wheel to unstake the nut(so as not to damage the wheel), reinstall the wheel(most have a large enough hub opening) without hubcap/centercap and put the car back on the ground. Then loosen or tighten the nut.

This is safer, and can be done by one person, rather than having it jacked up in the air. With a stubborn axle nut, it would be best to have the car on the ground as you will be fighting it.

If you are a heavy fella, use your weight and a diving board action to break the nut free. This is less dramatic/traumatic when the nut breaks free. I find skinny/light folks ten to break sockets/parts more as they don't have the power/weight to control and cause more shock loads. So if you have a 250lb friend on hand, have them caress the nut off. Tell 'em to talk dirty to it too, I find that helps.

holmesnmanny

Pull the wheels and spin each side with your hands. You should feel one side much rougher than the other.

Fitz Williams

iTrader: (1)

To do it on the cheap for a while, go to the pick and pull, select a good hub and bearing and swap them out. Go back later and do a new bearing when you have more time. You will learn from the practice!

holmesnmanny

If you are going through the hassle of pulling the knuckle for the first time you may as well just have the new bearing swapped in.

masospaghetti

The one benefit of going to a salvage yard is getting the bearing and hub assembly together, so there's no need to get the hub pressed out and back in.

76 camaro car

Well I found out its the right front that is making the noise. I checked prices at our local u pull it and it would cost as much for the used parts as it would to replace the bearing in the one I have. I'm going by harbor freight on the way home and buy a 36mm socket and going to try what Mike suggested and tighten it. Hopefully that will get me by until the new year. The kids get out of school next thursday so the car will not be used as much after that until January.

Fitz Williams

iTrader: (1)

When you pull the hub from the bearing the inner race will remain on the hub. It will have to be cut off. The shop can do that. A pick-and-pull hub is around $20 with the core charge.

holmesnmanny

It might be a good time to do a rotor over hub conversion from tasauto.com

dderolph

Huh??? I have an '91 Accord with 305K miles on it and I've never had to replace wheel bearings. I bought the car when it has 164K miles on it. So, it might have had wheel bearings replaced before I bought it, but I doubt it. Still have the original clutch too.

bournetc

I got a set (hub and bearing) off ebay for $100 and it comes with a 3 year warranty, the only trouble I had was pressing the old assembly out of the knuckle but I took it too a machine shop and they pressed it out. While you're doing it you should also check your upper and lower ball joints and tie rod ends.

MAD_MIKE

Have a '95 EX with 285+K and a '97 EX with 180+K miles.

Wheel bearings gradually wear out. Taking note of when new noises occur, that inaudible hum, and doing a quick test of retorquing the nut, 100K miles is about when they start to go. If left go past 150K miles you will get very noticeable wear on the inner tread block of the tire. Every other block will scallop leaving the next one OK, mostly noticeable if the tires are left under-inflated for an extended period. I chased toe and camber 'problems' for a while, upon retorquing the nut the car became much quieter and my alignment settings were much more consistent.
This bearing design does not make loud howling or humming sounds when it fails.

I chased an 'alignment' problem in the '95 til nearly 200Kmiles, driver side bearing had been replaced ~120Kmiles at a mechanics recommendation. I said screw it and replaced the bearings. Noise and alignment issues were gone.
I picked up the '97 with `150k miles and immediately noticed the same issues I was having with the '95. Under inflated tires were scalloping every other tread, alignment would change around, and compared to the '95 the car just seemed louder. Retorqued the stub axle nuts and the car was considerably less noisy, and the alignment was consistent. But the wheel bearings were more than likely worn. Replaced bearings and the '97 was quiet as the '95 while driving.

As a sealed bearing it only has whatever grease was placed into it at manufacture. There is no servicing. The grease will not last forever.

IMO these bearings are solid for 100K miles. Past that they begin to wear, this will affect alignment, tire wear and brake wear. Being the bearings are only $30 from RockAuto in the Timken(NTN boxed OEM brand), it is well worth the money saved in chasing after non existent problems.

Preventative maintenance is the best kind of maintenance.

If you own a half decent set of tools, at most you may have to spend another $30 for the right socket and a breaker bar. Follow the FAQ and you can easily have the hubs/bearings off the uprights and brought to a machine shop to have the bearings pressed off, and new ones pressed on in an afternoon.

I'd suggest a simple test.
Raise drive wheel up, while leaving the opposite on the ground. Turn the car on and allow the speedometer to get up to 30MPH. Listen for any noise from that wheel. Do it again with the opposite side.
Now unstake the stub axle nut, loosen it, and re-torque it to 181ft lbs.
Note how much further the nut moved, this will be easy as the flange on the staked nut will have marks from where it was.
Retest.
Is the wheel quieter?
Go for a drive. Does the car seem to be quieter?
If so, your wheel bearings are worn.