Bad Wheel Bearing?

[Mishakol129]

Hey guys. Got my F23 hybrid swap running really good now, only thing is now I think my right front wheel bearing may need replacing (not totally sure). What's happening is when I make a left or sometimes a right turn, I hear a grinding noise . It will also happen when going straight up a hill from a stop, intermittently though and will go away as I reach around 20-25mph.

I know that replacing a wheel bearing is kind of a pain so i've thought about the best way of doing it would be. I've heard that you can leave the knuckle on the car and still do it, I should probably take the think off though right? And should I buy some bearings that come with the hubs already pressed on so I don't risk damaging the bearing putting it on the hub? I don't have press and I know I can buy new hubs and bearings online. So all I would have to do is put the new rotors and the new hub+bearing on the knuckle without needing a press. Sound like a good idea?

[XCRN]

I think it could be possible to do it on the car, but would be hell of a lot more difficult than just taking off the 3 bolts to remove the knuckle entirely. At least with the knuckle off you have more room to bang it out. You might as well do a ROH swap while you are there.

[illinois_erik]

Just take the knuckle off..all you need is a decent sized ball peen hammer to get all the ball joints loose. youll want it off so you can easily access the 4 bolts holding the bearing assembly to the knuckle and also to blast out the old one. I changed one on my CD5 start to finish in about an hour.

[Mishakol129]

Just take the knuckle off..all you need is a decent sized ball peen hammer to get all the ball joints loose. youll want it off so you can easily access the 4 bolts holding the bearing assembly to the knuckle and also to blast out the old one. I changed one on my CD5 start to finish in about an hour.

Alright... thnks. I got another question more important tho. I already have the new bearings but there's not OEM they were from Detroit Axle. Can you recommend these or should I have bought something better? There are also some no name brand hubs on eBay as well as some Doorman brand ones. Should I get the Doorman hubs or the off brand ones? I'll have new hubs pressed on at a shop I decided. thnks.

[illinois_erik]

Alright... thnks. I got another question more important tho. I already have the new bearings but there's not OEM they were from Detroit Axle. Can you recommend these or should I have bought something better? There are also some no name brand hubs on eBay as well as some Doorman brand ones. Should I get the Doorman hubs or the off brand ones? I'll have new hubs pressed on at a shop I decided. thnks.

detroit axle / am-autoparts theyre good..i mean a pre pressed hub and bearing in a pair for 100 bucks?! hell yeah. I have some on my 93 SE, its been like 3 years now not a problem. I bought cheap bearings for the CD5 but had the old hubs reused..thats what failed in like 8 months. those were no name ebay specials. ive ordered from detroit axle for i think my rear bearings/hubs (se) and definitely for a corsica I had..no problems. am auto parts for the fronts. if your bearings bad it can chew into the hub so it may or maynot be bad. I guess i just like the fact that its all together and warranted by one person. if they press in the hub haphazardly then they can mess up the new bearing easily..say like they dont clean all the crud off and just slam it in..i think thats what happened with the cd5..i used a shade tree guy because I didnt have a press at the time. just make sure you have the right tools. 44..33 foot pounds isnt much..and you might think things arent tight enough and crank on em, and thatll cause premature failure/wear too. and pleaseeee dont use an impact for the axle nut when reassembling. its 180ish ft pounds thats all. good luck.


http://www.am-autoparts.com/1990/Hon...51/347534.html

[Mishakol129]

detroit axle / am-autoparts theyre good..i mean a pre pressed hub and bearing in a pair for 100 bucks?! hell yeah. I have some on my 93 SE, its been like 3 years now not a problem. I bought cheap bearings for the CD5 but had the old hubs reused..thats what failed in like 8 months. those were no name ebay specials. ive ordered from detroit axle for i think my rear bearings/hubs (se) and definitely for a corsica I had..no problems. am auto parts for the fronts. if your bearings bad it can chew into the hub so it may or maynot be bad. I guess i just like the fact that its all together and warranted by one person. if they press in the hub haphazardly then they can mess up the new bearing easily..say like they dont clean all the crud off and just slam it in..i think thats what happened with the cd5..i used a shade tree guy because I didnt have a press at the time. just make sure you have the right tools. 44..33 foot pounds isnt much..and you might think things arent tight enough and crank on em, and thatll cause premature failure/wear too. and pleaseeee dont use an impact for the axle nut when reassembling. its 180ish ft pounds thats all. good luck.


http://www.am-autoparts.com/1990/Hon...51/347534.html

Appreciate it man. I got the bearings already and had them for a while, so what I did was order the hubs. I decided on a really good deal, 2 Doorman hubs for $98. Regular price is like 100 a piece. The off brand hubs they had (not AM Auto they don't sell them separately from the bearings for some reason) were $59. I just trust Doorman. I've watched air crash investigation episode where they showed how mechanics were using black market parts that were illegal and when magnified they could see that the actual steel composition wasn't as strong and it caused a major failure in a very important bolt. Cool ass show though. Yours probably won't break I just don't want to think my lug studs might break off while i'm drving down the road lol.

[Mishakol129]

detroit axle / am-autoparts theyre good..i mean a pre pressed hub and bearing in a pair for 100 bucks?! hell yeah. I have some on my 93 SE, its been like 3 years now not a problem. I bought cheap bearings for the CD5 but had the old hubs reused..thats what failed in like 8 months. those were no name ebay specials. ive ordered from detroit axle for i think my rear bearings/hubs (se) and definitely for a corsica I had..no problems. am auto parts for the fronts. if your bearings bad it can chew into the hub so it may or maynot be bad. I guess i just like the fact that its all together and warranted by one person. if they press in the hub haphazardly then they can mess up the new bearing easily..say like they dont clean all the crud off and just slam it in..i think thats what happened with the cd5..i used a shade tree guy because I didnt have a press at the time. just make sure you have the right tools. 44..33 foot pounds isnt much..and you might think things arent tight enough and crank on em, and thatll cause premature failure/wear too. and pleaseeee dont use an impact for the axle nut when reassembling. its 180ish ft pounds thats all. good luck.


http://www.am-autoparts.com/1990/Hon...51/347534.html

Okay. So i'm ready to do this job finally, the noise is getting pretty bad. I'm gonna take your experience and use the Detroit Axle/EBay bearings. Question is when I go to put the bearings onto the hubs do I have to get a press or can I use the method ETCG use, a mini sledge and something on the hub to hit on? I have new hubs and bearings ready to be assembled. Doorman hubs, brand spankin new.

[XCRN]

You can try the sledge hammer and there is a good chance it will work, and if that does not work then you will have to resort to the press.

[Fleetw00d]

I would never hit a new bearing with a hammer to install it - you're likely to brinell (dent) it and lead to premature failure. Find someone with a press. If you're near Cincinnati, come on over.

[Mishakol129]

I would never hit a new bearing with a hammer to install it - you're likely to brinell (dent) it and lead to premature failure. Find someone with a press. If you're near Cincinnati, come on over.

Its not hitting the wheel bearing itself or the hub, its using a piece of wood or something else to hit the hub onto the bearing.

[Mishakol129]

You can try the sledge hammer and there is a good chance it will work, and if that does not work then you will have to resort to the press.

Yeah this is the method that Eric the car dude used in his video. I know some think he's a hack but he's probably done hundreds of them like this without issue so I want to trust his method. Just a little grease will probably help do the trick. Seemed easy enough in his video.

[Mishakol129]

Wish I hadn't killed the first wheel bearing I tried to put onto the hub. What happened was I wasn't doing it on a flat surface and it messed it up. Dammit. Ah well lesson learned, and $18 for a new bearing. It was fun getting the brace off the hub.

[Mishakol129]

Help plz

Someone... please help me. I think I just broke 2 wheel bearings trying to install them. There's a little play in the bearing where there was none before. This was because during the installation where I put the bearing onto the knuckle, I thought it was a good idea to use a hammer and use it to make sure it was in there all the way. I was just hitting it a few times and next thing I knew there was a little back and forth play of the bearing where there was none before. So question is, am I screwed here or are the bearings still good?

That job is the worst kind you can imagine. I was so mad I think I went insane. Its rape I tell you, rape... I was raped.

[Jarrett]

There should not be any play in the bearing. I also question the quality of a bearing that costs $18 to replace.

[H311RA151N]

The bearing does not go on all the way against the hub. Only until the rubber lip touches the hub. Not pressed against it much at all.

And of course you damaged the bearings using a hammer.

Any play in the bearing and it's fucked.

The job is not hard at all with the right tools and know how. I have done at least 8 that I can recall. 2 on the front of each Accord, then when those went bad due to being low quality I had to do it again.

Why did you buy new hubs? You will have to cut into them now anyways when the inner race stays on the spindle after you press the bearing off. I cut into mine twice. It doesn't cause an issue unless you get really carried away with it and cut the hell out of the spindle.

And even with a press you can only push on the inner race, you cannot beat on the bearing with a hammer... Only thing that ever gets pressed on on a bearing is the inner race. Or the outer race on some bearings but we won't get into that.

I almost commented on this thread a few days ago but I wasn't feeling well and there was already some info in here I didn't really agree with. But now that it hasn't worked I'll comment. Sorry about the issues your having.