I think my wheel bearing is out and it's making my car shake as I go up in speed to 30 mph. So how hard is it to change my wheel bearings on both sides? Any step by step instructions?
What makes you think it is your wheel bearing?
Have you visually inspected it? Have you replaced it already? Because as far as I know, the J-body bearings are sealed and shouldn't just go bad out of nowhere.
It might be your tires need to be balanced. Have you hit a curb or a really big pothole recently? If so, you might have bent one of your wheels, which will have to be replaced.
99% of vibrations at certain speeds only are due to mis-balanced tires. Go to a tire shop and ask them to balance them for you. They can find out if they are misbalanced or if you actually bent a wheel.
After doing that it SHOULD solve your problem, if it doesn't, then I will give you more insight on the wheel bearing.
while i agree, its probably a out of balance wheel, wheel bearing do actually go on jbodys fairly frequently
the car just got aligned and ballanced, so I doubt it's miss alignment. I have a lot of experience of mis alignment and tire unballanced, but nothing feels like this. It makes a kkknocking sound when I cruise and I can feel it with my feet.
Almost sounds like a cv joint going out. Does is to it when you turn?
i was thinking the same thing, i had a 93 cav with a bad cv joint, got bad enough that it didn't want to flex exerytime the wheel turned, car shook very bad
Jack up your front end and try to move the wheel in and out toward your engine bay. If you have movement, you have a bad bearing. Sounds like a CV joint to me though.
check lug nuts, make sure thier tight.
if it is your bearing ... you just cant change the bearing ... you have to change the hole hub assembly ... each hub runs about ... up to 80 bucks for each of the front sides //
I know I have to change the hub if it was the bearing, but anyone got the process of how to do so?
There are no sound or resistance when I turn the wheel, I'm gonna go check it out now.
there a post on it dunno when but there is
I've got the same problem. I thought it was a wheel bearing as well, but as it turns out, it's a cv joint. Don't waste your time & money like I did. If the car's still driveable, maybe take it to a mechanic & get their opinion... then DIY once you know for sure what it is. BTW, the wheel bearings (hub assemblies) are not too difficult to do... depending on how technically skilled &/or knowledgeable you are. If you decide to go ahead and take on the job yourself, make sure that you have a large enough deep socket to fit the driveaxle/hub nut.
A warped strut mount or even a damaged tie rod end could also cause the wobbling you've described. Find the damaged part and replace it, don't just take guesses and randomly replace parts, it costs too much.
Geez you think someone wouldve just answered the damn question.
Changing the Hub/bearing isnt hard at all. #30 minutes top. I've done it twice. Once on the side of the Highway in PA with Event and Donovan and once about 2 months ago. Yes they can go bad depending on a variable of things.
But here's what you asked for. This is a quick run through so forgive me if my memory slips on some details.
#1.) Put car in park, turn off engine, set ebrake.
#2.) Jack up the side ypu plan on working on.
#3.) place jack stand under frame rail.
#4.) remove wheel
#5.) remove Caliper using hex tool and prop using wire coat hanger or something to keep caliper from dangling. Remove brake rotor.
#6.) remove Axle nut using ***30m Axle Nut Socket ( if memory serves me right)
#7.) you have to remove the bolts from the hub by rotating the hub with your hand to access each of them through the larger of the holes. It may also help to jack up the other side so that its easier to turn the hub youre working on. .(Sorry a pic would be great right here but Im at work) These bolts require a ***T5 hex bit
#8.) Pull the old hub assembly off replace with the new one by reversing these steps.
#9.) replace the hub bolts. Use torque wrench to correctly tighten them to spec.
#10.) lower the opposite side of the car if you raised it in step #7.
#11.) replace the old axle nut with the new one that shouldve came with your new hub.
(Only handtight)
#12.) replace rotor and caliper
#13.)replace wheel, tighten lugs. Lower vehicle.
#14.) Now, tighten Axle nut accoring to torque specs.
****** = These sizes may be off so check before starting.
Your going to have to find a haynes manual or ask someone for the proper torque of the bolts.
If I missed anything..someone jump right in.
Say it with me, "Its not what you know...It's what you can prove"
wheel bearings grind.
the do not make the car shake.
-Borsty
Signal 13 wrote:#6.) remove Axle nut using ***30m Axle Nut Socket
#7.) you have to remove the bolts from the hub by rotating the hub with your hand to access each of them through the larger of the holes. It may also help to jack up the other side so that its easier to turn the hub youre working on. .(Sorry a pic would be great right here but Im at work) These bolts require a ***T5 hex bit
30mm socket is right for the axle nut, T55 torx bit for the 3 hub bolts. And yes, it is helpful to jack up the other side in order to rotate the hub (otherwise the car will have to be put in neutral... which I wouldn't recommend
).
I hope it doesn't turn out to be your cv joint after you've replaced the wheel bearings.
Borsty wrote:wheel bearings grind.
the do not make the car shake.
I've had a few make the steering wheel vibrate with speed. Thats usually when the bearing is so bad that I can get almost an inch of movement(front to back) after I jack the car up
Note: Timken bearings do not hold up to autocrossing
mine made a noise when i turned the wheel to the left. my left one was the culprit, and didnt take long for my dad's friend and I to do it, the instructions above sound about right too. I didnt get vibes though, but i have them now as if ive got a wheel off balance, but when i had them balanced, same effect, i think it was that tire place...
ok guys, thanks for the help. Well it turned out to be that I pumped the tires too much and got a bump spot on the tire. I'll have to get new tires anyways, so I'm going to get it changed tomorrow. If this solve the problem, I have no problem with wheel bearing or cv joint what so ever.
But when I got the car aligned, the mechanic did told me that the wheel bearing is going bad, so it doesn't hurt for me to know about the process in changing them too. Thanks anyways guys.
Glad you found the problem.
For reference, my dealer just replaced a wheel bearing on my 2002 (and only 22 days left on my warranty!). It made a ticking sound between about 20 and 40 km/h, and the speed of the ticks increased with vehicle speed. It made no difference which gear I was in including neutral. Anyway, that's what it sounded like for me.
Roof Rack Racer (autoxxxer) wrote:Glad you found the problem.
For reference, my dealer just replaced a wheel bearing on my 2002 (and only 22 days left on my warranty!). It made a ticking sound between about 20 and 40 km/h, and the speed of the ticks increased with vehicle speed. It made no difference which gear I was in including neutral. Anyway, that's what it sounded like for me.
Just out of curiosity..how much was the labor? I know it was under warranty but sometimes the dealership still list the price on the paperwork for reference.
Say it with me, "Its not what you know...It's what you can prove"
1.6 hours, costing $135 CAD. The part said list $265, sell at $205.
Now my other bearing is clicking!!! It's nice and subtle, so it should be interesting to see if the dealer can hear it too, but I know what it is.
I'm quite happy though that they still warrantied it with a lowered suspension. They made some noises about it, but replaced it anyway.
Well thanks, but I still have one question for Signal
from step 11 to 14, the big nut that I took off with the 30 mm socket needs to be hand tighten as to use my bare hands to tight it? Well on step 14 how do I tight it when the wheel is covering it already?
you should be able to do it through the wheel. I have beretta web pattern alloys on my z, and the center cap prys out for hub nut access. as far as the shaking at the top of the thread, it's probably an axle (cv joint) or a tierod end.
