What should I do?

[busdriver]

I've got a rumble in the truck, so I tried to wiggle either back wheel and sure enough the passenger side is loose as a goose. So do you guys think I should try torquing it, or does it for sure need a new bearing...and are the bearings really $80 a piece for the gl10? That's the cheapest I could find them in town.

 

I should add she's never really been worked on wheel bearing wise and she's got 140 on the ticker. The repair man was just doing the brakes and he said she isn't really worth fixin cause she's so rusted out. I disagree, in fact I was pissed cause I told him to replace the wheel bearings if they appeared bad. Now I still have to tear the thing apart and I won't have time to do that til next year!!

[suberdave]

i just bought wheel barrings for the front of my 88 wagon, for all four barrings and seals, inner and outer and a tub of barring greese. total bill was $102.00. thats everything i need for both front barrings.

[Subaru Jim Maple Ridge]

Check to make sure that the large nut is tight. If it is loose, the compression cone will wear and the wheel will wobble. Allowed to continue, will wear the spline section of the brake drum, which is softer therefore sacrificial to the shaft. If the shaft does't wiggle when the drum is removed, then you should be able to just replace the compression cone. Be sure to tighten the nut as tight as you can.

 

If there is any looseness after all of this, or you hear any bearing noise, then yes, you need to do the bearing. The price is about right. You would usually take the arm to a machine shop to have the bearing changed. It can be a bit of nastiness.

 

I usually just replace the arm with another used one. Much faster and a lot cheaper than playing with bearings. If you have a rear anti-sway bar you would have to get an arm from a 4WD turbo car.

[Subarian]

Before you retorque the castle nut, pull the nut off and examine the cone washer. They tend to get a ridge near the outer edge. If you torque it without removing the ridge, you won't get proper torque. You can clean the ridge off with a file.

[idosubaru]

if you can get to the dust seal, inject some grease in there to at least give you some time if you can't fix it right away. but i'd be very leary about driving it anymore, the wheel bearings won't last very long at this point.

 

you can probably find a used hub (SOMEONE ON THE BOARD certainly has one), for like 25 bucks and install it. that's what i would do. replacing bearings can be tricky and requires special tools on the rear. go the marketplace forum or call some yards and install a used one. i just picked up 4 rear struts from someone on the marketplace forum from 87 4x4 wagons....post over there and snag a used one.

 

i've got 200,000+ on rear bearings with no issues. i've never had to replace wheel bearings, not sure why i'm so fortunate as i've done plenty of off roading in those 200,000 miles. that's why i'd install used ones, i've had good luck with the originals.