Hey gang.

So lately I have been having some front wheel bearing issues and I would love some insight as to why.

About 4 weeks ago now I was driving home from work. Heard a pop and grinding noise which went away, then the front end got loose and the brakes went to the floor. Pulled over and found the drivers front tire kicked out at an angle. Got it towed home. Went to auto zone next day and got new inner and outer bearings, seals, and hardware kits. Figured I may as well replace both sides since one let go.
The drivers side was completely shot. The cage broke apart and it failed spectacularly. The inner race for the outer bearing was fused to the spindle and it was a killer to get off. Had to cut and chisel it off in pieces. Knocked the old races out of the rotors, cleaned everything up, greased the new bearings and threw it all back together. Everything was fine. Towed my jeep out to the desert for the weekend, no issues.

Get back from the desert, go to leave for work the next day and get maybe a mile from home and hear a popping noise from the passenger side, again, brakes go soft. Limped it back home, drove the jeep to work. Day off comes and I pull the wheel. Yep, small outer bearing is destroyed. I had a feeling it hadn't been seated correctly. Replaced it with a new one again and made sure to seat the race and bearing all the way. Re assembled. Good to go.

Friday night I am again driving home from work and hear a very different noise. Something rattling around inside the hub cover. I thought it may be the dust cap had come off as that has happened before. But as I drive it gets louder and sounds like there is more than one thing rattling around in there. Saturday morning I pull the wheel. As I take the cover off several large chunks of metal fall out. Somehow the cast horn on the rotor that the small outer bearing and race sits in blew apart. The bearing itself was still intact though. So I ran to napa and bought a new rotor with the races pre installed. Get home. Transfer the big inner bearing and seal over to the new rotor after re greasing it. Go to do the same with the small one but notice the cage was gouged. I still had a small from the other side that I replaced previously that was still in good shape (or so I thought) so I cleaned and re greased that and put it all back together.

Last night I am driving home and again hear a funny noise. Getting really sick of this now, I pull the wheel on the new rotor, take the dust cap off and once again have a mangled cage from the inner bearing and it appears just one of the rollers popped out. The rest are still in place. Had the wife pick me up a new bearing. Go to take the rotor off, it won't budge. I've pried at it, the inner bearing race on the spindle, hit it, etc. I can't get the damn thing off for anything! Going to fab up a puller to see if I can separate it that way tomorow.


Anyway, I have greased everything correctly, torqued everything to spec each time I have installed these things or close to it as the torque the manual says for these nuts is so tight my torque wrench doesn't even go that high. Why the hell are these shredding so fast? Last time I put new rotors on three years ago I transferred and re used the old bearings and never had a problem with them in all that time. Now I'm shredding new bearings every other day?

 

Gotta toorque them exactly to spec. How close are you getting? I know the 4wd axle nuts are 185 ft/lbs not sure on 2wd

 

Think my torque wrench makes at about 115 ft lbs off the top of my head. When I went all the way up to that the rotor wouldn't budge though so I thought it was too tight and backed it off like an 8th of a turn so I could turn the rotor.

I was thinking though, a few months ago I replaced the upper and lower ball joints and put new shocks and poly bushings in the a arms. So basically had the whole front end blown apart. Is there a chance maybe the camber or caster is a bit off and that might be causing these things to let go? I never did take it for an alignment afterwards cause the toe in and everything looked good and it tracks straight.

 

if it tracks strait,then its definatly NOT the alignment causing the problem,one question though? when you tighten the new hubnut,are you making sure you can spin the hub freely by hand,if not,then there is some of your issues..im pretty sure you dont want to run your torque wrench up to 115 ft lbs agains those bearing races,that might be whats cracking them...but,i could be wrong..

 

That's the thing. If I were to torque it to the spec listed in the Haynes manual I wouldn't be able to turn them at all. So I went tight enough to still be able to turn it by hand and made sure they don't wiggle.

 

Torque it to spec. 185 ft/lbs. Thats what its designed to be. Bet your wheel bearings stop blowing up

 

His truck apparently doesn't have unit bearings. He has separate inner and outer bearings like in the good old days. The spindle nut on those does NOT get torqued to 115 ft/lbs..... that will pretty much assure that the excessive bearing pre-load will smoke them in short order.

Replace the bearings again, make sure they are VERY well lubricated. Put the rotor/bearings back in place, out washer, and then run the spindle nut on HAND TIGHT. Spin the rotor a couple times, try and turn the spindle nut some more. When you have the spindle nut as tight as you can get it by hand, put a wrench/channel locks on it, and turn it enough to get the slot for the cotter key to line up. Put the key in, put the cap on, put it all back together, call it a day. Recheck it in a day or so by trying to wiggle the tire. If there is any slop, tighten the spindle nut a bit more.

 

From 01 manual

(1) On models with all-wheel antilock system
(ABS), check condition of tone wheel on hub/bearing.
If teeth on wheel are damaged, hub/bearing assembly
will have to be replaced (tone wheel is not serviced
separately).
(2) Slide the hub/bearing onto the spindle.
(3) Install the new hub/bearing nut and tighten
to:
² LD 1500: 251N·m (185 ft. lbs.)
² HD 2500/3500: 380 N·m (280 ft lbs.)
(4) Install the rotor onto hub/bearing wheel studs.
(5) Install the caliper adapter assembly (Refer to 5
- BRAKES/HYDRAULIC/MECHANICAL/DISC
BRAKE CALIPERS - INSTALLATION), and tighten
adapter bolts to:
² LD 1500: 176 N·m (130 ft lbs.)
² HD 2500/3500: 285 N·m (210 ft lbs.)
(6) Install the wheel and tire assembly and lower
the vehicle, (Refer to 22 - TIRES/WHEELS/WHEELS
- STANDARD PROCEDURE).
(7) Apply brakes several times to seat brake shoes.
Be sure to obtain firm pedal before moving vehicle.

guess 98 is different

 

When I replaced the wheel bearings on my 1997, I was referring to the 2001 manual and thought, "185-ft/lbs is too much." I barely got the torque over 100-ft/lbs and knew there was an issue, especially when the rotor wouldn't turn by hand.

I can't remember where I found the correct spec, or if I even looked around for it. I may have backed the nut off and then worked it to the point just before the bearing was too tight to turn and set it at that.

I put over 100K on them, so I did something right.

 

From 96 manual

INSTALLATION'
(1) Install the new bearing cup(s) with an appropriate
installation tool.
(2) Apply a coating of MOPAR Wheel Bearing
Grease or equivalent lubricant to inner surface area
of hub/rotor. Install inner wheel bearing and seal in
the hub/rotor.
(3) Inspect bearing and seal contact surfaces on
spindle for burrs and/or roughness.
(4) Remove all rough contact surfaces from spindle.
Apply a coating of lubricant.
CAUTION: Use care to prevent inner wheel bearing
and seal from contacting spindle threads during
installation.
(5) Carefully slide the hub/rotor onto spindle. Install
outer wheel bearing, washer and retaining nut.
(6) Tighten the nut'to 41-54 N-m (30-40 ft. lbs.)
torque to preload bearing while rotating the hub/rotor.
Stop hub/rotor and loosen nut to completely release
bearing preload torque. Tighten the nut finger-tight and
install the nut lock. Install a new cotter pin.
(7) The adjustment (above) should have 0.001 to
0.003 inch (0.254 to 0.0762 mm) end play.
(8) Clean the dust cap and apply a coating lubricant
to the internal surface. Do not f i l l the dust
cap with lubricant. Install the cap.
(9) Install disc brake caliper, refer to Group 5
Brakes.
(10) Install the wheel and tire assembly.

guess they changed from the spindle to a unit bearing on the ifs at some point

when I did my grandpas nissan frontier rotors had to remove the wheel bearing. He was real clear about only finger tight. I listened to him because an 80 year old man has been around the block a couple more times then me. Even though it felt weird.