SmashedGlass Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 My wagon has been making a strange noise from the front end since I bought it, sort of "growling" at me from the passenger-side (as best I can tell while driving) becoming noticeable at speeds above 30+ or so and at around 50mph it has a rythmic quality to it. I had her jacked up with the front wheels off yesterday to check things out and could find no evidence of bearing play, a destroyed CV, or damage to the rotors. The previous owner had already replaced the drivers-side CV and bearings (at least, there were receipts for a shop pressing them in).... So I'm a little stumped as to the exact problem, and leery of purchasing parts I may end up not needing to repair it at the moment. I'm still leaning towards the bearings going out, what do those of you with more experience on the older Sube's have for advice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
man on the moon Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Any chance your alignment is tweaked and the tire is starting to sing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Txakura Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Hmmm. It sounds like a bearing but Man on the Moon has a good point. Why don't you move that wheel to another spot and see if the noise goes with it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 bearing is probably shot. in my experience "bearing play" doesn't come into effect every time. actually - i have not yet had a bad wheel bearing exhibit any play at all, so in my experience that's not even a viable symptom. the only one that had play was so bad that the car was undrivable, cracked the tone ring for the ABS, etc. i already knew that one was bad! use a mechanics stethoscope on the hub or strut springs while turning the wheel. the noise may present itself that way. if you have a temperature gun, this is where they shine. take the hub temps immediately after driving and compare drivers and passengers side - a bad bearing will have hotter temps. even the rotor works if it's bad enough, the rotor will have areas 20 or more degrees hotter than the other side. you may have to take like 5 or 10 and get an average or note the highest/lowest temps and compare those. a small difference in distance can make a huge difference in temps, temps start to mitigate as heat dissipates, etc. bad bearings generate extra heat every time, so if it's bad enough it'll show up in this way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmashedGlass Posted September 6, 2011 Author Share Posted September 6, 2011 That's what I figured; hub was pretty hot after the 24mi drive from picking it up last month. I'lll order up some bearings Good point on the wheel though. That one seems fine but does have a dinged lip. May be a combo of the bearings + wheel balance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 i'll clarify that's my experience with subarus - i don't really work on anything else. good luck on the bearings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmashedGlass Posted September 6, 2011 Author Share Posted September 6, 2011 Is it possible to do the bearings without taking the hub into a shop to have them pressed out/in? I've done bearings and races on tanks and HMMWV's without access to a press before, but perhaps there's something particularly hard about the old Sube's?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loyale 2.7 Turbo Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 ...in my experience "bearing play" doesn't come into effect every time. actually ... I Agree, That's my Experience too. That noise is Usually done by Worn Bearings and I'm almost Sure that you'll Notice when you take 'em out that they had their Grease gone as Dry Mud since long time ago... Kind Regards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
81EA81 Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 cant say ivd done it to a subaru but I have done both fronts a 92 Ford f250 and rears a 96 Windstar(damn Fords:lol:) All you should need a press for are the bearing races in the hub. I put the hub on a wood block and just used a big screwdriver and an even bigger hammer to run along the edge of the raceway slowly tapping it out. then use the old race to tap in the new one. When I did this the old race almost got stuck in the hub with the new one. I remedied this by running the old race against a grinder for a few minutes, making it a bit smaller. Hope this helps and good luck. There should be a thread about this in the USRM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 usually a good idea to specify what vehicle you're talking about. you could probably do a search and come up with some bearing replacement threads here. subaru's aren't typically as easy as some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmashedGlass Posted September 6, 2011 Author Share Posted September 6, 2011 cant say ivd done it to a subaru but I have done both fronts a 92 Ford f250and rears a 96 Windstar(damn Fords:lol:) All you should need a press for are the bearing races in the hub. I put the hub on a wood block and just used a big screwdriver and an even bigger hammer to run along the edge of the raceway slowly tapping it out. then use the old race to tap in the new one. When I did this the old race almost got stuck in the hub with the new one. I remedied this by running the old race against a grinder for a few minutes, making it a bit smaller. Hope this helps and good luck. There should be a thread about this in the USRM That's about how we do the races on military equipment, only either using brass drift pins or humongous sockets..... seems the Army can never supply us lowly mekniks with the 'proper' specialized tools for the job. It's an '88 GL 4wd D/R wagon btw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Txakura Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 I 'rented' a bearing/seal driver from the auto store and did mine myself. I also used the opportunity to do the 'sealed bearing mod' that you can find with a search. GD has the number memorized, I don't. It is the first and last time that car will get new bearings, the new bearing life exceeds the rest of the car. One thing I did that was a little odd was to put the bearings in my freezer overnight. I had thought any thousandth or two I could gain by chilling them just prior to install would help with the interference fit. Liquid nitrogen would probably cause the bearing's seals to crack, but it was that same train of thought. btw, when I pulled my old bearings one of them had seriously failed and was missing several of the balls, (rh outer) they had been hammered by the surviving balls and partially melted into tin foil, the heat must have been incredible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmashedGlass Posted September 23, 2011 Author Share Posted September 23, 2011 Well, I have new bearings and seals, just haven't gotten around to doing them because..... Now I'm wondering if it's just the damn tires. They're Hankook Winter iPikes (studded...or what's left of the studs lol), and pretty worn down. I did swap tires around and I still get the sound. Noticed that the way the tread blocks on those iPikes are formed could possibly set up a rythmic growly sound, and it might be possible that the bearings are in fact fine. Any comments from the panel of experts? As I said before, it isn't really noticeable until you get above 30+ mph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The FNG Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 honestly, it probably is the wheel bearings. They are super easy to do and if you already the stuff to do it, you may as well get it done. The bearings are a wear part and your car will be that much better off if you do them. I'm not sure if it is posted in your thread, but here is a link with instructions to get it done: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=77491 . Good luck and if everything goes smoothly, it should take no more than 3 hours per knuckle (including learning curve). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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