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Front wheel bearings

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Old 01-19-2004, 04:26 AM
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Front wheel bearings

I have a promblem with the front pass side wheel bearnings. iam guessing its the bearings b/c i can move the rim up and down and has alot of play when the car is off the ground. Also i get noise from the same place like the cailper is rattleing now and now when i turn the steering wheel to the righta little or all the way , i get a heavy whinning sound form the PS. and no noise when i turn wheel to left. So my question is Whats this sound like to you ?

I'am thinkings its the bearnings and i heard u can not replace them u have to buy a whole new HUB ? is this true ? also why is it rattling so loud and PS is acting up ? this problem is been there for a while is it causing other things to fail ? ie PS and Brakes ? if i do need to replace the HUB is this hard dont look to hard ?

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Old 01-19-2004, 07:23 AM
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It sounds like it could be your wheel bearings, especially since you said it made noise when you tried to turn.
How many miles are on your car?
Another possibility is the tie rods. I would check these also.

It could be a combination of the 2. When you said there was a lot of play when you move the wheel around, this is common of the tie rods when they are bad.
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Old 01-19-2004, 08:46 AM
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If you really have slop in the hub/bearing, you need to replace it. Four bolts hold it on and it is replaced as a unit, as you said (also includes the wheel speed sensor).

Fix what you can tell is bad, first. Then proceed to eliminating other items. If your tie rod ends have cracked or torn boots, replace them, too.
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Old 01-19-2004, 10:47 PM
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When my left front wheel hub assembly started to fail it made a constant light grind-howl noise on smooth highway started at 50 mph and got louder the faster the car was going.
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Old 01-19-2004, 11:15 PM
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Mine howled too when they went bad. I didnt notice it untill after a front tire change and thought they were to blame and had the tires changed again thinking they were defective.You couldnt even tell with mine you could grab the wheel and shake and nothing moved after I replaced both bearing hubs it dissapeared!
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Old 01-20-2004, 12:55 AM
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It has 68,000 miles , one owner what should i look for when i look at the tie rods tommrow ?
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Old 01-20-2004, 01:08 AM
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My car has 66,000 miles and I just had to replace the front drivers side hub assembly today. I am not really sure what causes one side to wear earlier than the other, but my passenger side is fine. I picked up a new hub assembly for $115 at Advance Autoparts. It sucks to pay that, but at least you get the entire assembly and it is a very easy item to install.
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Old 01-20-2004, 01:26 AM
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Rob-Shoebox made a good point. Also check the outter tie rod ends also, if the grease boots are torn its time to replace. Had no idea until my hub went out that the outter tie rod end boots were torn so i replaced them also when doing hub.
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Old 01-20-2004, 09:44 AM
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As an alternative, lower cost source, check your local bone yard. There should be a good supply of those out there. When I did my 98+ brake swap, the bearings cam with the spindles.

I kept my -97 bearings as spares. They are interchangeable.
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Old 01-20-2004, 05:45 PM
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Originally posted by Don 97 SS
As an alternative, lower cost source, check your local bone yard. There should be a good supply of those out there. When I did my 98+ brake swap, the bearings cam with the spindles.

I kept my -97 bearings as spares. They are interchangeable.
good idea ! what do u mean by interchangeable ? Some one told me u can get the bearings it self out they are fixed. but do u mean u kept ur old hub and interchange them ?
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Old 01-20-2004, 06:16 PM
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Originally posted by Spllouder
good idea ! what do u mean by interchangeable ? Some one told me u can get the bearings it self out they are fixed. but do u mean u kept ur old hub and interchange them ?
Yes, I mean to say the bearing hub. While the design of my oem 97 hub is slightly different in appearance, it is fully interchangable and functionally identical as the 98+ spindle/hub/bearing assemby I received from a bone yard when I did the 98+ brake upgrade.

I don't know about rebuilding the bearing itself like on older vehicles. Frankly, this is the first car I've owned with this sealed hub design. I am used to removing the bearings and races to be repacked/rebuilt. I've done this enought times over the years.

ANyway my point is that these parts are probably at your local bone yard for less than a third the price of new. One never really can estimate the life of these suckers even when new; it could be 400k miles or 40k miles.
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Old 01-20-2004, 06:44 PM
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ok thanks for clearing that up. i will probaly go to my local boneyard soon . And Try to get one with low miles . and if its cheap enough ill go for it thanks.
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Old 02-16-2004, 11:47 PM
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Can I use 98+ hub assembley on my '95?

Thanks,

Eric
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Old 02-17-2004, 12:02 AM
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Originally posted by Eric Bazan
Can I use 98+ hub assembley on my '95?

Thanks,

Eric
Yes. That is what Don 97 SS was saying.
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Old 02-17-2004, 12:09 AM
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Thanks Shoebox

Eric Bazan
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