Wheel bearing replacement questions

After only 20k miles, I have a wheel bearing going bad.
I paid someone to do the last set. But this time I’m going to tackle it myself.

Question 1.
The noise gets substantially QUITER when turning left.
If I remember correctly, this it typically an indicator of a failing LEFT front bearing?

Question 2.
What are you using to torque the 4 hub bolts?
I’m not seeing a way to get a Torque Wrench on those bolt.
Not sure using crows foot is a wood idea at risk of rounding the head of the bolt off?
Do you just get it good and tight and “roll with it”? Lol

Question 3.
What type and Where is a good place to get the new bearings?
Any other tips are much appreciated.

Thanks in advance for the help guys

 

Q1. Negative. Generally, it's the opposite bearing because the bad bearing is sustaining the weight transfer, which quiets it. Thus, in your case, the passenger side bearing is likely the bad bearing.

Q2. Crow's foot will work. It worked for me. I don't remember the torque setting; maybe 50 or so.

Q3. I have DuraGo. But, there are many other vendors. Avoid Dorman bearings, but many use their hubs with no issues.

 

I hope I never have to do mine again, but I did but the 6 point impact 35mm axle nut socket. Hindsight being 20/20, if I were you and had the time before undertaking this job, I would put some penetrating oil on the bolts that hold the calipers on. Mine were unreasonably tight/rusted in place.

 

Are you sure on the sound diagnosis?
All I have read and and seen, say that:

“If turning left and the noise is louder. It is the right front bearing”
As a left turn places a load on the right front bearing and causes it to get louder.

Maybe @Jimmyh can help us out?

As for the bearings. Yes, I’ll do hubs and all.
Thanks for the heads up on a Dorman.

 

I have all the stuff to do it.
I planned on doing it myself last time.
But the plan went south..... No time, No Place, and obtaining some parts difficulty.

Hopefully nothing on mine will be stuck.
Seeing as it’s been less than 20k and 16 moths since the last set where pit on.

Thanks for the info.

 

Get your entire hub from 05taco4x4, you can look him up on the forum. Or use this link

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/wheel-bearings-hubs-press-service-4x4-prerunner-nsk.537080/

Then use crows foot and appropriate tools to torque everything correctly and you will be good to go. It takes approximately 30 min per side.

 

Depends on type of bearing failure. If it's humming due to increased tolerances, the tolerances tighten up when turning into it. If bearing has broken race/bearings, a grinding noise may get louder when lifting pressure from it.

It may be easiest to remove the tires and brake calipers, but leave the rotor on and use a couple lugs to tighten them. Spin the rotor by hand to feel for grinding, and pull the rotor side to side to feel for looseness. Only 20K on both? Might something have cause the failure? A bad CV joint can also make sounds and disappear when turning. Also sticking caliper piston, or debris caught in the brakes. BTW, 59 ft/lbs is the torque for the 4 bolts.

 

You should be able to jack up the front end and try to wiggle the tire with hands at the 12/6 o'clock position along with spinning the tire to hear abnormal noises to check for failures of the WB. Regardless of which side you think it may be, always replace in pairs.

 

lots of good advice here along with other threads. the job is much easier than you realize and likely wont take up more than short afternoon. i replaced only my front driver side and my passenger side has still been going strong a 100k miles later, but the advice to change both sides at once has some decent logic behind it.

 

215,000 miles on my 2007 (PreRunner V6, highway miles, no off-road use, very little towing or hauling).

I think I can hear my front wheel bearings a little bit.

 

I have these torque adapters. They don't get used that often but are several years old and holding up great.

T&E Tools 93222 3/8” Drive Metric Torque Adaptor Set – 12 Piece Torque Wrench Adaptor Set

https://www.amazon.com/Tools-93222-Metric-Torque-Adaptor/dp/B00NABVES8

It's probably the passenger wheel bearing. If it's far enough along you'll be able to rotate the wheel and hear it. If you're having trouble diagnosing it with the pads dragging, you can remove them easily, just pull the two pins and the pads come out without removing the calipers. If you buy the hub and bearing assembly it's an easy job. The caliper bolts will be tight- the torque is 90+ lb-ft.

 

Passenger bearing is culprit if it quiets turning left. I suggest doing both bearings as the other side will be shortly behind it. Use Timken bearings and seals. You have an outer seal between hub and bearing, an inner seal between spindle and CV if you're 4wd, and an Oring between bearing and spindle that you can get anywhere if you know the size, or from dealer for pretty cheap. If 4wd, torque CV nut to 173ft#'s or you wont get proper bearing preload. If 2wd, you'll need the adapter to fit on the hub nut, and I forgot the torque spec there, but it's easily found, and replace that hud nut if 2wd. Then stake it once it's torqued. I personally get the 4 bearing bolts just good n snug with a very small drop of loctite on the threads. Brake caliper bolts are 91ft#'s, lug nuts are 83ft#'s.

 

I usually go with the logic then again they may not have been properly lubricated prior to installation or they could have been improperly assembled which is an even bigger reason to do both. I'm also not a big fan of non-oem, but last I remember there are several member vendors that sell quality pre-assembled hubs.

Oh and if I were going with a crows foot I would use one of the ones above with the boxed end 6 point. Just make sure you calculate for the offset properly.

http://www.cncexpo.com/TorqueAdapter.aspx

https://www.engineersedge.com/manufacturing_spec/torque_wrench_1.htm

 

Thanks for the advice everyone.
The ones I have in now are supposed to have Koyo bearings.
I believe I paid around $350 for the set + extra for new dust seals.

I attempted to get OEM, but they were really expensive at the dealership.
Going to have to see if I can source OEM. My OEM ones lasted 100k
These new ones......lol... not long at all.

Thanks again everyone.

 

I'm gonna guess that whoever replaced the bearings didn't bother replacing the inner seals. There are 2 inner seals per side. 1 goes on the CV joint and the other goes in the knuckle. 1st line of defense keeping water out and 2nd line of defense. If the original bearing failed bad enough that the hub was flopping around, it definitely damaged the seals.

 

Both seals were replaced.
The O-ring and Rear.
The rear one required the spindle to be removed from the axle.
The old ones were not completely worn out.
Road noise was heard but very little tire/wheel movement.

 

As far as rusted rotors go, there's 2 bolt holes for this very reason. I put a 12mm bolt I got from the air filter box and it popped right off. Had I realized that, it would have saved 30 mins of trying different things to get it off....

 

I know it's a different vehicle but on my Corolla, I thought it was one side and it was the other. I couldn't tell by wiggling the wheel and tire assembly.
I jacked the car up and took both rear wheels off. Just turning the hub by hand, I could feel that one was not as smooth as the other. That's the one I changed and the vibration/noise went away.

 

If bearings are extremely worn, yes. Otherwise, any slight movement can be attributed to normal suspension tolerances - tie rods mainly. And a noise when spinning the tire will likely be the brake pads dragging on the rotor. It's best to remove everything to where you are spinning the axle on the bearings with as little non-bearing component interference as possible.

When using crowfoot wrenches, or any torque wrench extension, you don't need to adjust torque settings if the crowfoot/extender is installed on the torque wrench at a 90 degree angle.

 

Why avoid Dorman?
Looking for torque specs to put my stuff together with a Dorman hub assembly,,, and now I see the warning.