dunno if this goes here or not but i had a question, my wheel bearing has gone out three times in one year already, first time was when i hit a curb wiht my front right wheel now the front right bearing keeps going out. wat is causing it to keep going out? it is getting kinda annoying, let me know thanks guys
I've had problems with wheel bearings going bad when I was using the rear gasket that came with it. OEM one's don't have a gasket so I left the rear one out (the one that you have to hammer in to the hub) and I haven't had any problems since.
cool might that be the reason they keep going out?
Here is the #1 reason why you have repeated wheel bearing failure.
Because that wheel bearing locknut has to be torqued to spec.
There is a reason for that spec, and a reason why in every wheel bearing hub assembly box they say to torque to spec. Over torque to much preload on the bearing, untorque, not enough preload on the bearing
- 2004 Cavalier - 124k, owned since new
I've got a torque wrench and I always did mine to 185 ft. lbs. I went though a good 8 wheel bearings before I decided to try one side with the gasket and the other without and the one without outlasted the one with the gasket. I followed all the directions (even had pictures from the ny j-body site) so I know I was installing them properly. With the gaskets in, I could get one, maybe two, autocrosses out of a wheel bearing but I've been able to do a full season on bearings without any gaskets. Explain that...
lol so i just dont add that blk plastic ring?
I've never used the gasket, and I've always torqued to spec. I have the same results as Zach.
I doubt anyone here has changed more j-body wheel bearings than I have. My current count is over 20 on my Z-24 and about 4 on my wifes Cavalier. I'll give you what I know based on my experience. YMMV.
1. Brands. I've tried pretty much all of them. GM, Timken, Autozone, NAPA, Advance Auto, etc. In my experience the factory bearings do last longer, but of course at a higher price. From GMPD they are $150 with shipping and no warranty. I've had the worst luck with the Timken ones. I've bought two of them and both lasted less than
TWO DAYS!!!!! The Chinese-made
front hubs from Advance Auto are second behind the factory GM ones. The price is about $80 each, but the best news is they have a 1 year warranty. I've returned about 4 of those now with no questions asked.
2. Torque Spec. This is
very important and 185 ft-lbs is the number. I bought a $300 1/2" drive Mac torque wrench that is used for nothing but the axle nuts.
3. Gasket, Seal, Whatever with aftermarket bearings. They don't do jack. The hub bearings are sealed type bearings and need no other seal. That's why the factory ones didn't have a seal. Toss 'em because they won't help logevity.
4. Negative Camber. This is the main contributing factory to premature failure besides improper axle nut torque. How do I know? From LOTS of experience! My factory bearings survived 100K miles and 3 seasons of autocross. When I changed the suspension I dialed in negative camber to increase the contact patch in corners and reduce outer edge tire wear. I gained only -1.5 degrees which is pretty small as camber goes. Still this is when the bearings started to die a quick death. In short, these hubs were not designed to take a significant side load. Run zero camber and your bearings will last longer. I can't because tires are more expensive than hub bearings, and on track tires are the most important element. Tires last longer and work better on track with negative camber.
-Vincent K.
1998 Z-24
www.thscc.com
http://www.j-body.org/members/vkz24/
"Racecar spelled backwards is still Racecar"
My results were about the same as Vincent's. I've had the best luck with the cheap Advance Auto ones. I did notice more bearing failures with more negative camber. It isn't too bad at -1.4 deg (which I'm running now), but at -2 they were wearing out on me much quicker.
I think I've been through a good 8-9 bearings on my car so far.
VanquisherOfTheVariance (Zach) wrote:My results were about the same as Vincent's. I've had the best luck with the cheap Advance Auto ones. I did notice more bearing failures with more negative camber. It isn't too bad at -1.4 deg (which I'm running now), but at -2 they were wearing out on me much quicker.
I think I've been through a good 8-9 bearings on my car so far.
I'd love to get camber plates and go up to -3 degrees, but that would surely kill the bearings. Some tires actually require that much camber to work. I ran a set of Hoosiers at Rockingham last year and shreaded the outer edge literally to the cords in one day.
I think if I were to keep tracking the car I'd get something custom designed. Next year I plan to get another track car though and return the Z-24 to DD only.
BTW, I spoke personally with one of the mechanics on the Cobalt race team at VIR last year. He said they use stock bearings from a G/A, but have to replace them every event. The C5 guys have lots of trouble with their rear hubs as well. GM bearings are teh suck.
-Vincent K.
1998 Z-24
www.thscc.com
http://www.j-body.org/members/vkz24/
"Racecar spelled backwards is still Racecar"
thanks guys, i feel dumb now cuz they guy at autozone was trying to sell me the one with the year warranty and i didnt wanna buy it lol, ill get that one and see how it goes thanks
VKZ24 wrote:I'd love to get camber plates and go up to -3 degrees, but that would surely kill the bearings. Some tires actually require that much camber to work. I ran a set of Hoosiers at Rockingham last year and shreaded the outer edge literally to the cords in one day.
Good luck with that. I doubt I could get past -2.5 with 0 toe on my plates.
VKZ24 wrote:I doubt anyone here has changed more j-body wheel bearings than I have. My current count is over 20 on my Z-24 and about 4 on my wifes Cavalier. I'll give you what I know based on my experience. YMMV.
I have, i've done well over 50, just not on the same car over and over. I will agree that quality parts make a big difference, I would recomend getting one with a lifetime warranty if you plan on keeping the car long. SKF @Pepboys have that, and run about 125. I do not install the big rubber o-ring that comes with them because they dont fit. If you overtorque/undertorque the nut it will shorten the life, but i usually put them on a little tight. As far as alignment goes, there is some signifigance in that, but if you have big wheels (17-18) and if they are out of balance or bent, your killing your bearings. If you are interested in aftermarket alignment stuff, a regular set of cam-bolts that are like $35 will give you 2 degrees of adjustment. I have a 3-4 drop on mine, and it allowed me to put align. dead on
John Benham wrote:I have, i've done well over 50, just not on the same car over and over. I will agree that quality parts make a big difference, I would recomend getting one with a lifetime warranty if you plan on keeping the car long. SKF @Pepboys have that, and run about 125. I do not install the big rubber o-ring that comes with them because they dont fit. If you overtorque/undertorque the nut it will shorten the life, but i usually put them on a little tight. As far as alignment goes, there is some signifigance in that, but if you have big wheels (17-18) and if they are out of balance or bent, your killing your bearings. If you are interested in aftermarket alignment stuff, a regular set of cam-bolts that are like $35 will give you 2 degrees of adjustment. I have a 3-4 drop on mine, and it allowed me to put align. dead on
A lifetime warranty? On a wheel bearing? Wow! No Pepboys anywhere near me though.
What the hell is that o-ring for anyway? I've never used it either.
On the wheels, I do have 17's, but I was killing bearings just as fast with the stock 16s.
I have cam bolts which is how I get the amount of negative camber I have now.
-Vincent K.
1998 Z-24
www.thscc.com
http://www.j-body.org/members/vkz24/
"Racecar spelled backwards is still Racecar"
consider yourself lucky, pepboys sucks, i should know i work there part time. the only reason i gave you that info was because i knew they had that. I would try any chain though, i would be supprised if they dont have a lifetime warranty on one of the bearings they stock. the o-ring is supposed to be like an axle seal, and i believe the j-bodies actually come with an entire cup shaped piece that you have to remove the axle to get in position only to find out it still doesn't fit in the hole!
i think that they are in there because that bearing probably fits 5-10 different cars, and might work correctly for some applications. also check the slip that comes with the bearing. i know if you are a guy, reading directions is illegal, but often times aftermarket bearings are not an exact design of the origional, they change a few things to make them "better", and will often times have a different torque spec than factory.
John Benham wrote:consider yourself lucky, pepboys sucks, i should know i work there part time. the only reason i gave you that info was because i knew they had that. I would try any chain though, i would be supprised if they dont have a lifetime warranty on one of the bearings they stock. the o-ring is supposed to be like an axle seal, and i believe the j-bodies actually come with an entire cup shaped piece that you have to remove the axle to get in position only to find out it still doesn't fit in the hole! i think that they are in there because that bearing probably fits 5-10 different cars, and might work correctly for some applications. also check the slip that comes with the bearing. i know if you are a guy, reading directions is illegal, but often times aftermarket bearings are not an exact design of the origional, they change a few things to make them "better", and will often times have a different torque spec than factory.
I'm not aware that the chains in my area (AutoZone, NAPA, CarQuest, or Advance Auto) that have a lifetime warranty on their bearings. The most likely one would be the Timken brand from AutoZone, but they are *the* worst of all that I've used. LT warranty or not, changing them once a week isn't worth it.
That "cup" as your described doesn't fit, but it wouldn't do anything if it did IMO. The bearings are sealed so adding another seal is pointless IMO.
Some bearings do have a different torques spes, though most are 185 ft-lbs. The most recent GM ones I've used are slightly higher IIRC, even though the FSM says 185 ft-lbs too.
My lastest plan is to disassemble a new bearing, clean all the old grease out, then repack it with Redline CV-2 synthetic grease. My guess is the grease they use isn't even close to the "good stuff" so I'm hoping it will help. Only time will tell though.
-Vincent K.
1998 Z-24
www.thscc.com
http://www.j-body.org/members/vkz24/
"Racecar spelled backwards is still Racecar"
Damn, I just put in 2 new Timken's on the Cav a couple of weeks ago
Jason
99 Z24
157hp/171tq
wheres my boost??
Jason wrote:Damn, I just put in 2 new Timken's on the Cav a couple of weeks ago
On a DD basis I'm sure they will be fine. On a race track or severy duty-type application, IMO they are crap.
-Vincent K.
1998 Z-24
www.thscc.com
http://www.j-body.org/members/vkz24/
"Racecar spelled backwards is still Racecar"
