Front wheel bearing replacement: Recommended parts list?

[Coiled03]

So - my g'damn front driver's side wheel bearing is shot with less than 20K miles on the car. :kaboom: :nonono:

After some reading, I understand this is a common failure for these cars, although I can't imagine why. :read: Bearing technology and design tools are far enough along, nowdays, that such low life failures shouldn't occur.

In any event, here I am - stuck in this situation. Having said that, does anybody have a recommended parts list for doing a bearing swap, aside from the bearings themselves? Dust caps, nuts, etc... Should I go with OEM replacements, or not?

 

[RGrossman]

Make sure you have a 36MM socket I'm not sure if I'm right or not, but doesnt the Ford piece come as a complete assembly? When I had a cross threaded lugnut and cut it to remove, I replaced that entire assembly from Ford. I'm not sure if the bearing was apart of that, I feel like it was.

 

[TerminatorFTW]

Make sure you have a 36MM socket I'm not sure if I'm right or not, but doesnt the Ford piece come as a complete assembly? When I had a cross threaded lugnut and cut it to remove, I replaced that entire assembly from Ford. I'm not sure if the bearing was apart of that, I feel like it was.

I only have 25k on mine, and I had the dealership replace BOTH wheel bearings... they were COMPLETELY shot to the point that I couldn't drive the car w/o earplugs in. The roar was louder than my exhaust/supercharger! I will put this on my yearly list of things to check/replace. Good luck with the install.

 

[Juruense]

So - my g'damn front driver's side wheel bearing is shot with less than 20K miles on the car.

Had to do both side of the front of my old GT at about 50k miles :cuss:

After some reading, I understand this is a common failure for these cars, although I can't imagine why. :read: Bearing technology and design tools are far enough along, nowdays, that such low life failures shouldn't occur.

Well mine was missing the dust caps on both sides and I believe this led to premature failure.

In any event, here I am - stuck in this situation. Having said that, does anybody have a recommended parts list for doing a bearing swap, aside from the bearings themselves? Dust caps, nuts, etc... Should I go with OEM

I did my GT as I said. I got all the parts at the Ford parts counter and they were all in stock.

These are the parts I needed:
hub bearing assembly - $75 (prelubed no greasing required)
36mm retaining nut - $16 (cannot re-use the old one must install new nut torque spec is 258 foot pounds)
dust cap - $7 (easily damaged for sure use a rubber mallet on this)

Anyways, its an easy easy job. The hardest part is torquing to 258 foot pounds.

 

[clobato]

How do you know when the bearings go bad? I just sarted getting a popping noise coming from my right front suspension, but I can't figure out what it is. I've talk to a couple guys on the mach 1 site and the local site that have said that the bearing in their Maximum Motorsports caster camber plates was bad and caused a popping sound. I've looked at my caster camber plates and everything looks okay. This is driving me crazy, I can't figure out what's wrong and I was wondering if it could be the wheel bearings.

 

[Juruense]

THe popping noise you describe sounds like steering rack bushings to me.

You can tell if your wheel bearings are bad by:
-they howl at high speed but stop howling when slightly turning the wheel left or right
-the wheel severly grinds when you turn it by hand
-the wheel has in/out play when you try to move it by hand
-if you have a laser thermometer you can measure the high heat caused by the worn bearings and see that it is hotter than the other wheels

 

[Coiled03]

I'm 99% confident it's my wheel bearings because the car has the wretched squeaking noise on occasion that goes away when I turn the wheel off-center, creating a side load on one wheel or the other.

 

[mavereq]

the front bearing come as part of the hub. i have them sitting right here. i didn't know about buying a new nut. thanks for the info.

 

[Coiled03]

$94 each for hub assemblies that last less than 20K miles.

Thanks Ford.....:kaboom:

 

[Juruense]

If the dust cap is installed they should last.. Was yours missing the dust cap like mine was?

 

[TerminatorFTW]

My pass. side dustcap was gone :rockon:

 

[flyn high again]

I've had 3 out of 4 wheel bearings fail in 40,000 miles. I wish Ford had spent a little more on the bearings.

It's recommended to use a new nut when installing the hub. These are "crush" nuts which are only supposed to be used once. You can sometimes get away with using them again but for the price of a nut, it's better to replace it. If you do have to re-use it, examine the old nut to make sure it isn't coming apart.

 

[RGrossman]

When I replaced my driver side, they said jus the hub assembly was needed, nut could be reused, just be sure to torque properly. I've checked torque a few times and everything has been fine.