Any feed back is greatly appreciated
Is this a bad wheel bearing? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter JamesStuart11
- Start date
-
- Tags
- bad bearing wheel wheel bearing
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
- Thread starter
- #2
1996 Lans Cruiser ^
tmxmotorsports
SILVER Star
Only one way to find out.
- Thread starter
- #4
And what’s that?
tmxmotorsports
SILVER Star
Take it apart and check if it's just loose. Have you had the front axle apart ever?
If the wheel makes a Tonk Tonk and you can feel a motion other then the rubber felxing, yup its a wheel bearing.
thatcabledude
GOLD Star
It’s definitely loose. Not necessarily “bad”
tmxmotorsports
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #9
Never taken apart
tmxmotorsports
SILVER Star
Is this your daily?
Watch this:
Might not need to watch the whole thing, but while you're in there...
Do you have the FSM down loaded. I'd suggest you read that too.
Last edited:
Assuming the lug nuts are tight then yes, it seems that bearing is loose.
Any noise or other adverse symptoms while driving?
Any noise or other adverse symptoms while driving?
tmxmotorsports
SILVER Star
Give us more information so we are not just picking info from you.
This could be:
Worn out trunnion bearings
Loose steering knuckle nuts (studs)
Loose wheel bearings
Loose lug nuts
Are the bearings BAD?
Not necessarily. The only way to confirm for sure is to pull it apart and inspect them.
You can just tighten them to spec and hope that they are OK or you'll lock up a dry and munched wheel bearing in about 4 miles.
(35 LB-FT on the inner nut while rotating, the 45 LB-FT on the outer nut after you have installed the locking washer, then bend over the tab in the right places)
You can plan for a full front knuckle rebuild and do it ASAP.
You MUST check the torque on the knuckle studs ASAP or you'll kill a busload of Kindergartners with a half a bus of Nuns on board. (71 LB-FT)
Depends on your maintenance history.
You need to inspect properly and address it either way. But you can still probably drive it for another 30K miles just because. I think that's what my PO did before I bought mine. This is not proper legal advise and it is worth exactly what you paid me for it. Nothing. (That was my legal disclaimer)
Worn out trunnion bearings
Loose steering knuckle nuts (studs)
Loose wheel bearings
Loose lug nuts
Are the bearings BAD?
Not necessarily. The only way to confirm for sure is to pull it apart and inspect them.
You can just tighten them to spec and hope that they are OK or you'll lock up a dry and munched wheel bearing in about 4 miles.
(35 LB-FT on the inner nut while rotating, the 45 LB-FT on the outer nut after you have installed the locking washer, then bend over the tab in the right places)
You can plan for a full front knuckle rebuild and do it ASAP.
You MUST check the torque on the knuckle studs ASAP or you'll kill a busload of Kindergartners with a half a bus of Nuns on board. (71 LB-FT)
Depends on your maintenance history.
You need to inspect properly and address it either way. But you can still probably drive it for another 30K miles just because. I think that's what my PO did before I bought mine. This is not proper legal advise and it is worth exactly what you paid me for it. Nothing. (That was my legal disclaimer)
My thread when my wheel bearing was shot. Check out my similar video down the thread. Wound up having a shop do both wheel bearings and knuckles.
forum.ih8mud.com
Another "what's this noise" thread
Hey all, sorry to bring up another one of these, but I feel like a moron riding around with this noise. Just started a day or two ago, with no recent maintenance done that would've affected it (I did replace window trim moulding finally, but doubt that messed up my driveline). As a starting...
forum.ih8mud.com
John McVicker
SILVER Star
Tighten it up and then do the same test. Video it and post it up.
On top of all the above, if it's due to loose wheel bearing preload that means the bearing has been rocking in and out (as in the OP's demonstration) on the spindle as the vehicle was being driven.
What this can do is wear/deform the spindle tube (usually where the outer bearing is mounted) causing a loose fit of the bearing on the spindle. IME even a new bearing won't stay tight with proper (or higher) preload if the spindle tube OD has a step worn into it.
The step is usually found running between 3 and 9 O'clock on the underside of the tube. If the bearing was really loose then the inner race can not only rock but also spin on the tube and the whole OD can become worn, but it's usually worse on the underside of the tube IME.
The by-the-book fix is to buy a new spindle (or find a good condition used part).
A rarely used (??forgotten) trick to tighten up the fit on a worn a spindle IME is to "stake" the worn segment of the tube with a few dozen hits from a hardened punch. This forms mini moon craters, a depression in the center with metal around the rim that has been pushed up. Enough of those and you've effectively increased the OD of the tube.
So the process is to make a bunch of dings in the low segment evenly spaced, slip on a new outer bearing, check for slop, hit the spindle more, check again, keep doing this until the bearing fits snugly on the spindle and doesn't rock. If you go too far and can't get the bearing on the spindle just take emory cloth and sand the tube (dings) down a bit until the bearing fits. I did this to one of my 80's ~100,000 miles ago, still running those same spindles and bearings. Having said that, with larger tires and hard off-road driving this hack may be a temp fix??
FWIW
What this can do is wear/deform the spindle tube (usually where the outer bearing is mounted) causing a loose fit of the bearing on the spindle. IME even a new bearing won't stay tight with proper (or higher) preload if the spindle tube OD has a step worn into it.
The step is usually found running between 3 and 9 O'clock on the underside of the tube. If the bearing was really loose then the inner race can not only rock but also spin on the tube and the whole OD can become worn, but it's usually worse on the underside of the tube IME.
The by-the-book fix is to buy a new spindle (or find a good condition used part).
A rarely used (??forgotten) trick to tighten up the fit on a worn a spindle IME is to "stake" the worn segment of the tube with a few dozen hits from a hardened punch. This forms mini moon craters, a depression in the center with metal around the rim that has been pushed up. Enough of those and you've effectively increased the OD of the tube.
So the process is to make a bunch of dings in the low segment evenly spaced, slip on a new outer bearing, check for slop, hit the spindle more, check again, keep doing this until the bearing fits snugly on the spindle and doesn't rock. If you go too far and can't get the bearing on the spindle just take emory cloth and sand the tube (dings) down a bit until the bearing fits. I did this to one of my 80's ~100,000 miles ago, still running those same spindles and bearings. Having said that, with larger tires and hard off-road driving this hack may be a temp fix??
FWIW
But those would be readily observable without taking anything apart, right? Easy to rule these in or out.
Worn out trunnion bearings? Only visible using the same test and observing where the movement is occurring.
The knuckle studs?
Yes those are very visible, but all we got to see is one simple test. It could still be the issue, especially with as loud of a clunk as that is.
