Wheel Bearing Replacement

[IROC444]

Well, it appears to be that time in my Camaro's life that the front wheel bearings need to be replaced. It's being to whine when I accelerate and makes a grinding noise most of the time when I'm turning while driving slowly.

I do have a couple questions as I've been doing a lot of research on this subject. :confused:


#1: should I worry about replacing the rotor while replacing the outer/inner wheel bearings?

#2: this will be my first time changing these out, any hints or suggestions? I'm gonna get the list of tools I need out of my Haynes manual.

#3: am I gonna need to "press" the new bearings on by a machine shop or anything?


Thanks in advance and bear with me as I'm learning this area of the car as I go. Thanks :D

[coprunr]

simple repair. pop the wheel off , pop the caliper off , pop the little dust cap off the center, pull the cotter key, take the nut off, remove the washer, and the outer bearing will pretty much fall out. now the rotor should slide off. the inner bearing will stay in the rotor because of the seal. you can slide the rotor back on the spindle, put the nut back on a couple turns and give the rotor and good yank, this will pop the inner bearing and seal out of the back of the rotor. pack your new bearings, install the new seal and your ready to reinstall.install in the reverse order of removal. when you go to tighten the spindle nut, the best way to do it is by feel. tighten the nut till it's snug, then turn the rotor several times. tighten the nut again until you just start to feel resistance in turning the rotor, then tighten another 1/4 turn. install the cotter pin, pop the cap back on tada your there dude.

[IROC444]

Well, I was able to replace the inner wheel bearing, but not the outer bearing. The outer wheel bearing wouldn't seat all the way for me to get the washer, nut, and cotter pin back in. Well, I can't get the old outer bearing housing off the rotor and therefore the bearing won't seat. I have the new housing that came with the new bearing but howthe heck can I get the old housing out??????

[james hyde]

There are two notches cast into the hub to drive out the old race with a punch or chisel. Use the old race to drive the new one in then finish seating it with a punch.

[IROC444]

what if you don't have a punch? will a flathead work just the same?

[james hyde]

Oh yeah, will work just fine, just be sure to not chip the new race when you seat it, keep the blade back against the hub.

[IROC444]

Well, the new race is a little too big to fit in the hub...I read that sometimes they need to be shaved a bit. Now deciding on having the shaved or just getting new rotors since these are a little worn.

[IROC444]

Well, got the bearings replaced out tonight. O'Reilly's gave me the wrong bearing/housing the other day and so I called CarQuest. Well, not only did they charge $15 for 1 bearing, they delivered the wrong bearing. So they had to go back and get the right one; this only took 45 min.



Good NEWS: I'm not hearing that grinding sound nearly as bad.
BAD NEWS: But on the SHARP turns where the wheel's all the way to the right, it'll grind.



Guess it on to look at the joints unless someone can offer a better search.

[Damon23]

Caliper sticking or dragging maybe?

[IROC444]

What do you mean by sticking or dragging? The only time it would do it is when I'm turning sharply to the right while driving slow.

[Chick]

Ruled out wheel rub or power steering issues?

[IROC444]

PS fluid is good and nope, the wheel isn't rubbing.