Diagnosing a wheel bearing

[xoomer]

ok, I'm getting a wierd shaking at different speeds. and I'm wondering if its a wheel bearing.. My rears feel fine but my drivers front seems to have some up down movement. I just replaced the tie rod. could it be the bearing? cause I can get that taken care of but I've never had a vibration like this. I also have a broken axle moving side to side in the back but it doesn't seem to be the problem. (no clicking) anyhow I can't afford to have my car down, Any ideas? I'm going to need something asap

[Reveeen]

Usually you can kinda tell a wheel bearing, with a disk brake car, because all of a sudden your brake pedal has a lot more room at the top before the brakes work (as the hub/disk assembly wobbles it pushes the brake piston back more than normal, that has to be pushed back out before the brakes apply).

Anyhow, you know the drill, jack it up, grab the tire top and bottom, checking for play, ANY movement requires attention. Pay attention, it can be deceptive, because in the early stages the bearing cage blows up, leaving the balls to bunch up in one area, so you might only have play in one direction.

 

I am in process of doing wheel bearings here (regular maintenance, rather than a failure) and it sure can be confusing. I went to buy bearings and I had two choices "name brand", or no-name Chinese, $30ea vs $8ea. Don't forget new seals (most important!).

[xoomer]

EA81 wagon bearings Part Number 0513859 $19.99 and Wheel seal 0521799 $3.99 Beck Arnley numbers.

[Reveeen]

Bearing # 6207, you decide if you want a sealed bearing, or not, I buy sealed, and pull the inner seal, letting grease migrate from the hub center. There was a guy one time I read about that installed a grease fitting in his axle carrier so that he could grease his wheel bearings sorta "on demand", said it worked out, would make sense if you are running open bearings.

There are two seals, inner (half shaft side), and outer (hub, or wheel side).

 

What "kills" these bearings is water/dirt, keep the water and the dirt out and they will last forever.

[bratman2]

I replaced the fronts on my Brat some 9+ years ago. NAPA only had one set the other set came from Autozone. Just replaced my driver's side again (believe that is the Autozone set). My Brat had a grinding like vibration/feeling from 35-45 mph and then kind of died down some. I had swapped axles side to side and check free play twice and could not detect any free movement (not saying it wasn't there). Also swapped tires around just trying different things as I was stumped somewhat to the problem. They can be tough to tell they are bad. I found a pair on Ebay that were Japanese and very reasonable price. The seller had more , I will try to search through my history and post back later.

[bratman2]

You can check auction number 290139984000, the seller has KOYO front wheel bearings. They came quick and he offered me a second set with free shipping if memory serves me correctly. Has lots of other Subaru parts also. Hope this helps!

[PonchoCatalina]

Also check out Ebay item number 260135884668. I'm not sure who the maker is (probably Chinese), but the price is dirt cheap and the seller has very good feedback. Pull one seal, clean 'em out good, and relube with high-temp grease and you're good to go for about $14 including shipping for all four front bearings!

[suburpy]

Hey Mate

 

I dunno just throwing this in but i had weird vibrations at some speeds and especially under brakes. Did bearings first, no change, Replaced my bushes with the polyurethane bushes, no more wobbles and it rides fine, no strange tire wear and im not chewing bottom ball joints every 10,000 KMs. Just a thought - and yes those super pro bushes are excellent and cheap!