wraprail

Working on this 94 Del Sol, right axle half shaft and wheel bearing. The bearing I replaced 6 months ago and it already took a crap (autozone bearing) so this time I got the Koyo brand as recommended by you guys.
My question is which way does it go?
One side has a metal shield I guess covering the seal




The other side does not.




Old bearing just had the seal exposed on both sides

Any input would be much appreciated

MisereNoire

HERE you go...in short, metal side toward engine/axles.

hondur

iTrader: (1)

Shouldn't autozone be giving you a new bearing for free?

Former User

Diagram from 96-00 Civic service manual:




This diagram is not found in the 92-95 Civic service manual presumably because the bearing part number change occurred later.

SpecialRequest

If it goes out this often, is it worth the hassle to exchange it to Autozone?

Former User

Is the AutoZone bearing generally bad? Was the install just bad? Or is there another issue that causes the bearing to fail? Too many unknowns to draw a conclusion.

SpecialRequest

Ah good point.

wraprail

How do you install a wheel bearing "bad"?
I have read countless threads complaining about poor quality bearings from autozone so thats what I based my assumptions on.
As for this install I took a guess and installed the metal seal as shown. After looking closer it is the only way the bearing can go. If you install it the other way the metal seal will contact the snap ring.
Hopefully this will help someone in the future.
(btw, it did search first and could not find any useful info on this subject)

Former User

Did you follow the service manual procedure? There seem to be multiple ways to screw up an installation.

How many threads did you read and was the information reliable? Post some examples for Civic wheel bearings. I'm not saying that AutoZone bearings are better than the Honda version, but people often draw wrong conclusions on the internet.

wraprail

https://honda-tech.com/honda-civic-d...cs%5D-3208121/

https://honda-tech.com/tech-misc-15/...rings-3266926/


https://honda-tech.com/tech-misc-15/...parts-3263854/

https://honda-tech.com/honda-civic-d...ilure-3229377/


https://honda-tech.com/honda-crx-ef-...ement-2685054/

Former User

None of these^ threads presents any rigorous evidence that an Autozone bearing is destined by fate to fail prematurely. In fact, in the fourth link you posted, the bearing failure was clearly due to the axle nut backing off (bad installation). And from what I can tell, the last thread is only an alternate bearing installation method. It's easy to come to wrong conclusions if you don't critically read the information presented.

bhawk

I ordered 2 front wheel bearings for my crv. One has the black seal and the other has metal on both sides ? Is there a difference or do u think it would be okay to use both?

NukeNinja

I think mine had metal shields on both sides. I installed with the lettering out, facing the wheels. That is how the original ones were installed.

Note that Autozone does not manufacture bearings. They only market them. These people probably inadvertently installed their bearings by the inner race (you should use the old bearing to install), or did not torque the wheel nut or something else. Statistically, if 75% of bearings are sold by Autozone, then 75% of premature bearing failures should be to bearings sold by Autozone. Pay no attention to these nonsensical anecdotes. Any bearing from a major manufacturer (Koyo, SKF, Timken, ***, NTN, CGB, etc.) will work. I might steer clear of the Chinese manufacturers (ZWZ), as their plants are not auditable. When I was designing, my preference was to specify bearings based on who had the best engineering catalogs (SKF). And even if any two bearings are not absolutely equal, their quality is not determined or changed by the sign on the front of the store where they are sold.

spAdam

iTrader: (1)

I'd bet my lunch money this is the root of the vast majority of failures on replacement bearings. I've watched professional mechanics zip that nut on with an impact and move on with their day. I've done it that way myself and ruined a bearing too. You must use a torque wrench and torque to spec or the new bearing will fail, period. This applies to replacing the bearing and any other service that requires removing that nut (axle replacement, etc).Rolling a car around the shop without the outer CVs installed and torqued is another sure way to trash the bearings.