my car EATS wheel bearings

[Uberoo]

1993 Subaru Legacy FWD sedan

 

a couple weeks back the right front wheel bearing on my car died.It was making noise and if I jacked the car up there was alot of play.All the other wheels were fine which I thought was odd but I told that is reasonably normal.So I tore down the car and found out that the bearing had been wearing the hub away so the hub was shot.I went down the junkyard and the only thing they had was a hub of a 97 lego with abs,but it would fit my car and came from a donor with only 120K miles compared to my cars 170XXX.It had no play.It was perfect when I installed it but lol and behold not a week later it started making noise again.I had to drive on a 4 hour trip the next day(8 hour round trip).It made it back without any problems other than the wheel bearing/hub getting progressively louder with each mile.Now it has a very loud constant drowning sound so by now I know the hub is shot.So I am going to find a good hub then press in new wheel bearings.However,before I do that I would like to know what would cause a bearing to just fail like that in a short amount of time?I mean the new bearing was perfect then failed less than a week later in city driving.

Edited June 24, 2010 by Uberoo

[GeneralDisorder]

Your new bearing wasn't new. It had 120k on it - I replaced a VERY bad bearing on a '96 with 115k on it not long ago...... It might have sat for years prior to you aquireing it and could have been exposed to moisture, etc in that time. Unless you have other reasons to suspect some other cause (severely uneven tire wear, etc) then you probably just got unlucky. Bearings are $35 and aren't that hard to install if you have a hub-tamer or similar tool. I have the one from Harbor Frieght - I think it was $79. Works fine but you need a puller to get the old outer cone off the hub which it doesn't come with.

 

GD

Edited June 24, 2010 by GeneralDisorder

[idosubaru]

yeah, what he said, welcome to the world of EJ vehicles, they eat wheel bearings. my 97 legacy failed. installed new bearings, the new ones failed 20,000 miles later so i installed a used hub. here we are another 20,000 miles later and that same hub is failing - so i'm on my 4th attempt on the same freaking hub. expect no love from me.

 

i replaced a 2000 Forester last week, my buddies 97 Legacy and more, EJ wheel bearings suck. old gen stuff has far fewer wheel bearing issues.

 

let the cynicism seap out: it's a nice money maker since it typically doesn't strand people but most folks don't fix it themselves. pardon my cynical nature, but the frustration with wheel bearing after wheel bearing is getting to me. upside is i've bought some cheap newer subarus because of this issue

[CNY_Dave]

There are steps in the press process where you have to be very careful about what is actually taking the strain.

 

Also, if you put any weight on the wheel bearing before torquing the axle nut fully, that can damage the bearings/races.

 

Dave

[GeneralDisorder]

expect no love from me.

 

upside is i've bought some cheap newer subarus because of this issue

 

Have you checked any of the hubs for an out-of-round condition?

 

As mentioned presses can deform the bearing pockets..... all things being equal the hub-tamer is a more delicate approach if you can get access to one.

 

GD

[idosubaru]

i only replaced one set of bearings so far. orginal set failed - so i have no idea about that one. shop (that does work for the local dealer) installed new bearings. that one failed. i installed a used hub and that one is now noisy. all the other jobs i've done i just swap hubs.

 

never done a bearing job before so I'm a bit hesitant to dig into it.

[bheinen74]

if it makes people feel any better, I have had good luck i have had 4 92-94 Turbo legs, all running with over 160k each, and never replaced a bearing. I hear my old 94TW with over 210,000 miles on it just had a bearing go.....though.

[GeneralDisorder]

never done a bearing job before so I'm a bit hesitant to dig into it.

 

You can do it - that I'm sure of. You just have to work slowely and carefully and make sure that you NEVER apply pressure in a way that transmits the force of the tool through the rolling elements of the bearings (balls, rollers, etc).

 

The biggest part of the learning curve is to get people to PAY ATTENTION to the details of what they are doing. Bearing fits are TIGHT and a matter of a few thousandths of an inch is a BIG problem. Pockets and shafts must be closely inspected for burrs, scratches, and other damage that will affect the installation. Usually these problems can be corrected easily with a small file or a bit of sharpening stone used to "hone" the impefection. The components are generally designed to be either a "zero clearance" or a slight "interferance" fit. Meaning the only thing holding it all together is friction - the ID of the bearing being either the same size or slightly smaller than the OD of the shaft it is designed to slip over. In high-speed and high temperature applications like an automotive wheel bearing it is not uncommon to see .001" to .002" of interferance between the parts being assembled.

 

Automotive technicians, by and large, are not trained in the checking, measureing, and fitting of close tollerance parts such as used in bearings - that is generally the realm of the machinist (automotive or otherwise) and thus it is poorly understood in this community with the exception of those that have built engines, etc - although even a lot of them fail to bring that same level of precision work over to the lowely wheel bearing. This goes for people operating presses at shop XYZ that are installing bearings for people in this community and for the dealership (which ought to do this simple task themselves but hire only part-hanger's anymore it seems ).

 

And - just to put this out there - in the VAST majority of cases, presses are for taking things APART. They are much less often used for putting things together - for which we have induction heaters, etc. Sometimes, for some types of machined fit's a small press is used - like a hand operated arbor press for example. But you shouldn't be busting out the 50 ton hydro press for installing a Subaru wheel bearing - not in my opinion anyway. There is not enough "feel" for that job and nowhere near that much force is required.

 

GD

[Olnick]

Fascinating read, GD! So what is your technique for removing/installing wheel bearings. Don't know that I'd ever try it but would love to know the best (or proper) way to approach the job.

 

Thanks.

[lone500]

seems ive had good luck so far. left front bearing on my FWD 94 legacy started making a lot of noise.

 

so me and a friend tore it all down. took the hub to a shop where we used their torch to heat a little of it up then used a screwdriver and a hammer to beat out the old bearing. pressed in the new one and went home.

 

reassembled it and i havent had a problem with it.

[uniberp]

Great overall description, thanks.

 

I always have my local parts shop press them in and out, trusting them. Is it possible to press one IN with an arbor press or something like that, that I could do at home, that would give me that accurate feel for how evenly it inserted?

 

I've done rear forester a couple times, I think. I can't even remember now.

 

You can do it - that I'm sure of. You just have to work slowely and carefully and make sure that you NEVER apply pressure in a way that transmits the force of the tool through the rolling elements of the bearings (balls, rollers, etc).

 

The biggest part of the learning curve is to get people to PAY ATTENTION to the details of what they are doing. Bearing fits are TIGHT and a matter of a few thousandths of an inch is a BIG problem. Pockets and shafts must be closely inspected for burrs, scratches, and other damage that will affect the installation. Usually these problems can be corrected easily with a small file or a bit of sharpening stone used to "hone" the impefection. The components are generally designed to be either a "zero clearance" or a slight "interferance" fit. Meaning the only thing holding it all together is friction - the ID of the bearing being either the same size or slightly smaller than the OD of the shaft it is designed to slip over. In high-speed and high temperature applications like an automotive wheel bearing it is not uncommon to see .001" to .002" of interferance between the parts being assembled.

 

Automotive technicians, by and large, are not trained in the checking, measureing, and fitting of close tollerance parts such as used in bearings - that is generally the realm of the machinist (automotive or otherwise) and thus it is poorly understood in this community with the exception of those that have built engines, etc - although even a lot of them fail to bring that same level of precision work over to the lowely wheel bearing. This goes for people operating presses at shop XYZ that are installing bearings for people in this community and for the dealership (which ought to do this simple task themselves but hire only part-hanger's anymore it seems ).

 

And - just to put this out there - in the VAST majority of cases, presses are for taking things APART. They are much less often used for putting things together - for which we have induction heaters, etc. Sometimes, for some types of machined fit's a small press is used - like a hand operated arbor press for example. But you shouldn't be busting out the 50 ton hydro press for installing a Subaru wheel bearing - not in my opinion anyway. There is not enough "feel" for that job and nowhere near that much force is required.

 

GD

[GeneralDisorder]

So what is your technique for removing/installing wheel bearings.

 

Ok - so to give a little background:

 

I had (got laid off) a very interesting job working for an industrial machinery manufacturer/distributor for the last few years. I worked in their in-house repair and rebuild shop. This shop has been in business for 75 years and I worked with a whole bunch of old timers - guys that remember pouring babbit bearings 30+ years ago on machines that *at that time* were older than the old timer that was teaching them how to do it .

 

I worked on everything imaginable and some things you probably can't imagine :-\. Ostensibly we specialized in compressors, vacuum pumps, pumps, and blowers.... but if you know anything of industrial machines you'll realize that this ecompasses a LOT of equipment. Everything that blows or sucks pretty much - not to mention the control systems and electronics (in the newer stuff) that go along with them.

 

Well - in the process of rebuilding equipment that was often 2 to 4 times my own age - you run up against a lot of peices for which there is no manual - often for which there isn't even a manufacturer or even anyone still alive that you can talk to who worked for the manufacturer. This presents it's own unique set of problems - one of which is that any special tools once required to service these machines are no more. Anything that is needed must be manufactured in-house. We had a machine shop for just such neccesities and probably *the* most common thing to have made was bearing/sleeve/seal drivers - both press/porta-power adaptors for taking things apart, as well as hand drivers for driving such components onto shafts and into pockets, etc. Thus I am no stranger to making a tool for a specific pupose.

 

To that end, in order to install a wheel bearing you simply need the right adaptors and something to apply force to them. That is the essence of the hub-tamer type tools that are now commonly availible and rather than make my own adaptors for the job (time consuming) I bought an inexpensive set from Harbor Freight:

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/automotive-motorcycle/tire-wheel/fwd-front-wheel-bearing-adapters-66829.html

 

Now that set does not include the puller that you need to remove the outer cone from the hub but it does include enough sizes and shapes of adaptor peices to do the job on an EJ front wheel bearing. It works reasonably well though I wouldn't reccomend doing it without a 1/2" impact gun as removing the old outer race from the knuckle requires quite a bit of force. You can do it with hand tools but it would be a bear of a job.

 

GD

[idosubaru]

i think that's what's holding me back - i need still need a puller and other bits to do the rear maybe? if it was an all contained kit that would be awesome i just haven't had the time to put into assembling a kit and pieces. i'd buy a complete kit probably if it had all the parts for front and rears.

[CNY_Dave]

How many tons of force can you get out of a screw-type hub tamer or bearing installer?

 

My 20T press felt pretty close to the limit on my front wheel bearing job.

 

Dave

[johnceggleston]

i need still need a puller

 

 

and i would think it needs to be above average, or least not below average.

i stripped one i borrowed from autozone trying to remove an axle.

[GeneralDisorder]

How many tons of force can you get out of a screw-type hub tamer or bearing installer?

 

Quite a bit. I have a pair of jacks that were my grandfather's - they are screw jacks - designed to jack houses up for post/peer construction type work.

 

Most small bottle jacks have a height adjustment screw on the pad - the threads therefore must hold the full force of the jack.

 

That's what Square and ACME type threads are designed to do - power transfer.

 

Another example - My lathe sits on height adjustable feet. The screw that does the heigh adjustment on each one is a single 1/2"x20 machine thread. Each adjustable foot is rated at 7,000 Lbs . And that's not even a special power transfer thread - just an off the shelf machine thread.

 

GD

Edited June 28, 2010 by GeneralDisorder

[GeneralDisorder]

and i would think it needs to be above average, or least not below average.

i stripped one i borrowed from autozone trying to remove an axle.

 

The puller required is nothing special. All it is needed for is to remove the old cone from the hub. I used an old Craftsman 2 jaw puller.

 

Autozone tools are junk though so that doesn't surprise me.

 

GD

[Fairtax4me]

How many tons of force can you get out of a screw-type hub tamer or bearing installer?

 

My 20T press felt pretty close to the limit on my front wheel bearing job.

 

Dave

 

If you use something handheld, most of the time you can whack it a few times with a BFH and the impact will get things to break loose easier than using a press, without placing an overly large amount of stress on the component that you want to keep.

[Whitedog]

Your new bearing wasn't new. It had 120k on it - I replaced a VERY bad bearing on a '96 with 115k on it not long ago...... It might have sat for years prior to you aquireing it and could have been exposed to moisture, etc in that time. Unless you have other reasons to suspect some other cause (severely uneven tire wear, etc) then you probably just got unlucky. Bearings are $35 and aren't that hard to install if you have a hub-tamer or similar tool. I have the one from Harbor Frieght - I think it was $79. Works fine but you need a puller to get the old outer cone off the hub which it doesn't come with.

 

GD

 

Hub tamer? Proper installation technique? I have been looking for a How-To, but haven't found one yet. Maybe there isn't one?

[unibrook]

Hub tamer? Proper installation technique? I have been looking for a How-To, but haven't found one yet. Maybe there isn't one?

 

Sent by PM:

 

Hi Wdog,

 

I have used the Hub Tamer a couple of times on my 2001 Forester for rear wheel bearings. I took very detailed notes as I went. I can email it to you if you want. email me at: nwlovell at yahoo.

 

 

Nat

[Whitedog]

Thanks, Nat. I got it and looked it over and it looks pretty straight forward with the tooling. Now that I know what's going on, I see that I have done the same thing when replacing bushings in excavators and backhoes.

 

I saw a YouTube video where they had a hydraulic attachment instead of the screw and that's what we used on bushings and it's sweet.