Wheel bearings

[Jadenjdawg]

So I ordered some new rotors online and when the came in I found out they are not the floating rotors, but have to take wheel bearings and all out, so I figured I might as well replace them. Couple questions, 1) Can the axel nut be reused? And what is the torque? What size is the nut?2) Are the inner and outer bearings the same? None of the auto parts stores differentiate between the two, best I can tell.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[don4331]

1) Axle nut can be reused; cotter pin should probably be replace (yes, it can be reused if carefully removed, but is it worth it for a 10¢ part) Torque to 18 ft lbs, spin rotor to seat bearings, back off half turn, torque to 22-25 INCH lbs. Nut needs a 1-1/16" socket.

2) Inner bearing is Timken LM48548; Outer bearing is LM11949; for reference seal is 9150S

 

[pjtoledo]

removing the races from the hub/rotor assembly car be quite a chore.
since new hubs come with races pre-installed, there are no cut-outs (access slots) to get a drift on the races. the outer is not too bad, the inner is definitely a challenge.
once the races are out, dress the dimples caused by the drift. the dimples may prevent the new races from seating properly.

Perry

 

[ratdude747]

removing the races from the hub/rotor assembly car be quite a chore.
since new hubs come with races pre-installed, there are no cut-outs (access slots) to get a drift on the races. the outer is not too bad, the inner is definitely a challenge.
once the races are out, dress the dimples caused by the drift. the dimples may prevent the new races from seating properly.

Perry

Why would you remove new races? Shouldn't the new races in the new rotors be fine to use?

 

[adsm08]

The races that come in the rotors tend to be cheap, soft metal, while the ones that come with the new bearings are going to be better and better matched to the bearings in terms of hardness and quality.

 

[ratdude747]

The races that come in the rotors tend to be cheap, soft metal, while the ones that come with the new bearings are going to be better and better matched to the bearings in terms of hardness and quality.

I see. I tried to replace my bearings today, and failed to get the inner race out of the hub. I couldn't get anything to hit the race from behind and not glance off or bend/break. I'm not too keen on welding them, as I really don't want to mess up my rotor hub (and my 90A HF flux welder is shit).

Knowing this, new rotors won't help either... so short of a fancy tool, looks like my old bearings that may be going out (I regreased them last fall and didn't proper grease or tighten then) will have to stay and whine (hopefully proper grease and tensioning fixes it). My rotors are kinda groovy, but I can't afford new rotors, so yeah. Not sure if the local shops do good resurfacing (and I misplaced my micrometer, so no measurement).

Sorry to derail the thread a hair, but I'm having the same issue. This really pisses me off.

 

[pjtoledo]

looking on the NAPA website all the bearings and races can be purchased separately.
they seem to think mix-n-match is OK.
I prefer to use all new matched parts.

in the event you slightly loosened the inner race, did you pound it back in?


Perry

 

[ratdude747]

looking on the NAPA website all the bearings and races can be purchased separately.
they seem to think mix-n-match is OK.
I prefer to use all new matched parts.

in the event you slightly loosened the inner race, did you pound it back in?


Perry

I measured it, it wasn't going anywhere.

The old bearings looked ok so hopefully a re-grease and re-tighten will fix things (and I'll return the bearings and seals I bought at Auto Zone).

 

[renton]

getting the bearing to seat properly can be a pain. I failed to seat them right the first time and they became loose after driving for awhile. Lesson learned. My mechanic told me to lay a piece of wood across the rotor and give it some good wacks with a rubber mallet until it is fully seated then tighten the nut like the others said. Properly tightening bearings is something that has to be learned through experience rather then reading I guess, hopefully I get it right next time.

 

[ratdude747]

I ended up replacing the outer bearings, as on further inspection the driver's side had pitted rollers. Good thing those were the bearings that I could remove the races. Both inner bearings looked OK; I repacked them with high-temp grease (before I used cheap old plain black grease, and didn't pack them right anyway). My bearings were also loose, as I followed the old advice to tighten them then turn them loose a hair, which at least on these resulted in excessive play 6 months later. I used the torque sequence listed above, and it worked great. That 22-25 inch-pounds is tricky to feel in the torque wrench though (I was using a 1/4" HF clicker wrench for that).

I pressed the outer races with a hammer and a 32mm impact socket. If I were to do it again, I'd loan-a-tool the bearing driver kit.