I just replaced my front wheel bearings on my 2 door ex. one of the circlips came off one of them. so my tire was loose. i havent driven it since then. I checked for freeplay and it moves a little (no circlip in there). Is there suppose to be freeplay if the circlip is not in there, or is that normal? because i'm not sure if the bearing went bad when it fell off. I have spun the wheel (took the whole knuckle off) and there is no noise. but when i drove it, it make a slight rubbing/squeeking sound about every 2 seconds. Any help is apreciated.

 

Is there a reason you don't just replace the bearing?

 

i replaced it already, but while i was driving, the circlip came off. (dont know how it did, but it did). i just dont wanna go buy another one unless i know for sure this one has went bad. it has only been on for about 3 days.

 

You or a professional clearly needs to replace the wheel bearing, so I'm not sure what answer you are looking for here.

 

ok i'll try to explain it again. I've just replaced my front wheel bearings. The passenger side circlip that holds the wheel bearing into the hub fell off. Now one of my wheels has freeplay. And I am not sure if it is suppose to have free play or not without the circlip (snap ring). I am not sure if the circlip keeps the wheel from having free play.

 

Sorry, but the answer seems so obvious. A part, the circlip, that helps to hold the bearing in place has fallen out and the bearing is now making noise.

The bearing install job was botched, so it needs to be redone. Am I missing something?

 

It doesnt make noise when i spin it by hand. Does that matter?

 

The service manual tells you the freeplay tolerance. Is the freeplay out of spec?

No matter how you look at it, the hub must come back off because at the very least the circlip must be installed.

 

I cant really check it because there is no circlip on it. What I was asking before was "is there suppose to be some freeplay if the circlip is not on there"

 

 

it is off but i cant put in the new circlip yet because i need to find circlip pliers cause no place over here as them.

 

i will get back to you when i get them on. the only way to find out if theres free play is when i put the clip back on. thanks for your help ron

 

When you reinstall the circlip, recheck the freeplay.

 

that was exactly what i was going to do. thanks

 

You don't have Sears or KMart in California? You can't order a pair from Sears.com? Basic tools that everyone should have. Circlip pliers are cheap, and extremely useful for a LOT of things on a car. They rank pretty high on that list.