Wheel Bearings Service w/Pics (2 Viewers)

[TheForger]

I know there are tons of threads already out discussing wheel bearings replacement, but this thread is more for my information and reference in the future. I also intend on doing some cleaning/inspecting of old parts so I needed a place to come back to and compare. This was somewhat of a rushed job because I needed to have it off the jack stands and out of the garage before I left for work Sunday evening (I drive out of town, work Mon-Thurs, then drive back on the weekends). My DD is an Avalon but with a pregnant sister-in-law and parents in town chomping at the bit to be grandparents any day now, I needed the garage vacant of projects for their sake. This is the first time I have personally serviced the wheel bearings on this truck.

All unknowns will be corrected at a later date when I have time to go back through service records:
227,600mi. Last week bearing service: unknown (55k miles?); Last wheel bearing service performed by: dealer; Previously installed wheel bearings: Timken

New Parts:
- Hub flanges
- Cone washers
- Hub nuts
- Hub grease cap
- Timken Wheel Bearing Kits from @cruiseroutfit (inner & outer bearings w/races, hub flange gasket, claw washer, lock washer)
- Axle c-clip kits also from Cruiser Outfitters
- Adjusting & lock nuts
- @sleeoffroad spindle grease tool
- Slee stainless steel brake lines

Symptoms:
- Heavy pulsating while brakes are applied, becoming more abrupt as speed decreases (heavier jerking the closer I came to a complete stop)
- Odd vibrations felt through the floorboard accompanied by a whirring sound, indicating the c-clip had popped off and axle had backed out of the flange
- Driveline clunk when switching between gears; also while accelerating from a dead stop or letting off the gas to coast

I started have the typical c-clip popping off issue about 6 months ago on the drivers side. The axle would back itself out of the hub about an inch or so exposing the shaft and brass bushing. Because the axle would back out slightly I could feel the vibrations through the floorboard while braking or turning at a certain angle. This would provoke me to pull over, pull the axle out with a bolt, and reinstall the c-clip. Figured it was due to the adjusting & lock nuts loosening over time (and a stretched out c-clip) so I thought it was as good a time as any to dig into the wheel bearings, and why only do one side when I can do both ya know? About 3 months ago I decided to change the pads thinking that would help solve the pulsating feeling while braking. Breaking news: it didn't. The problem, like any, slowly got worse and worse until I limped it home one last time and realized it couldn't be driven anywhere until fixed. So here I am.

The liquid is PB blaster because initially I thought I would be removing the wheel speed sensors and replacing them. Tested their resistance and both tested perfect so that is obviously not the cause of my VSC TRAC & VSC OFF lights. I did find the zip tie on the sensor very odd, first time I've ever noticed that and definitely not me. Will check the rears at a later date. First up is to tear down the problematic drivers side.

This is how I would always find the c-clip. If you've ever installed a brand new one you would understand how unnerving it can be to install a used one in under 30sec on the side of the road. Normally it's a real pain to get the axle pulled out far enough and slip a new clip on so it often takes much more time and effort than this one used to, indicating it had stretched out significantly.

Heavy tool marks from previous mechanics. Also wanted to note the alignment nub at 9 o'clock has a piece of FIPG on it, indicating previous mechanics used liquid gasket maker instead of the fiber gasket you're supposed to.

After pulling the oil seal. Grease was very dark within both bearing cages. Also, not enough grease in the hub cavity. This allowed heat to build up which will be apparent later on.

 

[TheForger]

Inner bearing housing had more heavy tool marks from previous mechanics. I guess Stevie Wonder is the go-to guy for knocking out races these days. I went the standard route of using a brass drift so I know these are not from me. Disappointing to see but I did what I could with a Dremel and grinding wheel to knock down all burrs and sharp edges. And yes I did clean out all the lint before re-greasing.

Outer bearing housing. The discolored areas where the bearing race resides proves heat buildup.

Spindle looked terrible in my opinion. Heavy pitting. Also, the ABS sensor being magnetic picked up a lot of metal shavings from what I assumed was the inner bearing and spindle itself. Wire wheel, 200, 400, 600 grit sandpaper, then steel wool to clean up. Scotchbrite pad on brake shield mounting area. Cleaned wheel speed sensor. Applied marine-grade grease to the brake shield mounting area.

Surprising to me the races looked to be in pretty good shape. No obvious deep scoring and very little discoloration from heat. That's a smudge of grease at 11 o'clock on the larger inner race.

Hey, at least they were Timken! I did notice the races had a some scoring on the surface with the etched lettering that seats down into the hub, almost like it spun??

 

[TheForger]

Thoroughly cleaned inside of hub. Knocked down any burrs or sharp edges from tooling marks with a grinding wheel on a Dremel. Knocked in new bearing races using old ones and finishing with brass drift. Placed new inner bearing and oil seal making sure not to damage ABS ring.

All buttoned up on the drivers side. I did apply a thin coat of grease to the entire spindle before installing hub/rotor. Also greased needle bearings using Slee Spindle Grease Tool. New adjusting & locking nuts, claw washer, lock washer, hub flange w/gasket, cone washers, hub nuts, grease cap, rotors resurfaced, new pads, & greased guide pins. Also applied thin coat of marine-grade grease on inside of dust cap in an attempt to keep water out.

Snap ring size C 2.6mm; Adjusting nut @ 65ft/lbs + locking nut @ 47 ft/lbs = 13lb breakaway; hub flange nuts torqued to 25ft/lbs; caliper bolts torqued to 91ft/lbs

 

[TheForger]

Now onto the passenger side. Spindle looked to be in much better shape. Basically no pitting and very minor areas of discoloration from heat. Splines on axle looked to be in pretty good condition. Cleaned with 600 grit, steel wool, then lightly greased spindle. Also cleaned ABS sensor and performed the same cleaning & greasing on the brake shield and mounting area. Greased spindle bearings with Slee tool.

Hub grease looked just as bad though. Very black, not viscous, and it was separating in spots which made me think water found its way in from previous water crossings. Also, there should be much more.

Once again, heavy tool marks...

Thoroughly cleaned & pounded in new races. Installed inner bearing with oil seal. Installed on spindle. Outer bearing, claw washer, adjusting nut, lock washer, lock nut. I will also note there was no evidence of liquid gasket on this passenger hub flange, but there was also no fiber gasket present

Here's my rudimentary axle puller tool. It's made of 1" square tubing and I didn't feel like cutting it down to a manageable size so I left it 3' long because I like making things as difficult as possible. 2 holes drilled 92.5mm center-to-center with the axle bolt hole at 46.25mm. Could've used some washers since as you can see it slightly crushed the tubing, but I didn't care enough. There are nuts on the other side of the square heads bolts. All new hardware just like on the drivers side.

Snap ring size D 2.4mm; Adjusting nut @ 62ft/lbs + locking nut @ 47ft/lbs = 12.5lb breakaway; hub flange nuts torqued to 25ft/lbs; caliper bolts torqued to 91ft/lbs

Bedded in the new brakes and she drives like a dream now! No more pulsating, weird noises or vibrations, and best of all no more driveline clunk!! I mean it completely eliminated the clunk when switching from P-R-N-D, accelerating from a dead stop, or shifting through the gears while driving. Will recheck breakaway in ~500mi and adjust as needed.

In about 2-3wks I will be able to clean, inspect, & compare old parts (bearings, hub flange splines, adjusting/locking nuts & associated washers, etc...). I will post my findings here. Based on the amount of metal shavings caught on the drivers side ABS sensor I will venture to say both the bearings on that side did not fair very well. I will also be installing the Slee stainless steel brake lines at that time.

 

[Zooguy]

Following... ill be doing this soonish just for personal peace of mind ... mine only has 160k on the millage but the previous owner neglected basic maintenance stuff so I'm sure it's never been checked. Example is when I purchased it at 153,000 miles it still had the original timing belt, water pump, spark plugs, coils and serpentine belt from the factory.

 

[JunkCrzr89]

Great work. I’m surprised that you needed such high ft/lbs on adj nut with all new bearings. IIRC, my old bearings that I repacked only needed 49 ft/lbs on adjusting nut to get to proper breakaway.

 

[TheForger]

Great work. I’m surprised that you needed such high ft/lbs on adj nut with all new bearings. IIRC, my old bearings that I repacked only needed 49 ft/lbs on adjusting nut to get to proper breakaway.

Agreed, it seemed pretty high to me as well. However, after doing quite a bit of research on this project over the past several weeks plus what I have discovered actually doing this job, it seems much safer to have all hardware tighter and be on the upper end of the breakaway spec range rather than too loose (which I believe caused the problems on my drivers side). I wouldn't go over 70 though.

Never to tight. I've hit 72ft-lbf torque on wheel bearing adjusting nut to get just 10lb breakaway preload (BL), with a final BL of 12.5lb after locking nut torqued to 47ft-lbf. The bearings where just fine and ran cool. Also worth noting, they loosen within 500 miles down to 8lb BP. These bearing are very tough, and I've yet to fine damage from over tightening. I do find lots of damage from loose BP or wide snap ring gaps!

 

[FxFormat]

Great job, i love seeing new shiny parts on an old cruiser. When i repacked my bearing and changed the snap ring, it reduced a lot of the driveline clunk as well.

 

[2020 Rocks]

You have pretty dust shields, mine were toast when I did this job and had to order new ones, which delayed the work a few days. Great job documenting your work with pics!

 

[TheForger]

You have pretty dust shields, mine were toast when I did this job and had to order new ones, which delayed the work a few days. Great job documenting your work with pics!

Hah thanks! Although it seemed like were a few mm of caked on brake dust, old grease, & road grime; but overall in very good condition. This has been a southern truck it's whole life so rust is not much of an issue. It would have been helpful to hit the undercarriage with my pressure washer before beginning this project, or at least just the brake shield once it was off, but like I said this was a somewhat rushed job so I couldn't be quite as diligent with my cleaning as I usually am. It would've looked much nicer had I cleaned & painted them. I did insure the mating surfaces were all clean.

I also noticed there was an appropriate fiber gasket (43436-60020?) between the passenger side brake shield & the dust seal ring that goes over the ABS sensor, but this gasket was missing on the drivers side - I substituted for marine-grade grease on that side.

 

[Scrambled]

Great write up and pics!

 

[gregnash]

Awesome little write-up and I know how you feel. PO had a shop do some shady work installing chinesium axles, had a massive "clunk-TING" sound from drivers side anytime I would do the R-N-D shuffle. Also had a HUGE vibration from about 55mph to 70ish. Installed new OEM axles, all new hub flanges and stuff, kept my bearings as they seemed to be in good shape, no real heat marks or anything that I could tell. Now she accelerates from 40-70mph like butter. I used to know how fast I was going on the highway due to the vibration, now I look down and its like "OH #&%$ Im doing 80!"

However, we need some more detail on the axles puller! I wanna build one for when I got through in about 1k miles and recheck everything and throw some more grease in there (as needed). Can you provide other pics and dimensions and how you get it working properly?!

 

[TheForger]

However, we need some more detail on the axles puller! I wanna build one for when I got through in about 1k miles and recheck everything and throw some more grease in there (as needed). Can you provide other pics and dimensions and how you get it working properly?!

Mine was very rudimentary but it worked great, don't over think it hah. I don't have any more pics of it but here's a quick drawing. IIRC the square head bolts were 2 1/4" long and the M8 x 1.25 axle bolt was 2" long (maybe 1 3/4"?). I would first thread the axle bolts in a few good turns, then position the outer bolts on the ends of the hub bolts and tighten the nuts on the other side until it was all snug. Then I would begin tightening the nuts on each side small increments at a time going back and forth. Towards the end I did have to tighten the axle bolt a little more to give it some extra pull. I would also leave it to sit for about 5min to let the fresh grease in the spindle bearings squeeze into all the nooks and crannies and then try tightening some more. Then just measure the snap ring groove on the axle and install the appropriately sized ring. Hope this helps. I would highly recommend cutting it down to a more manageable length especially if you're doing this by yourself or else it'll always want to slide off the hub bolts. Also you might want to use washers to avoid crushing the tubing.

 

[Somebodyelse5]

I'd be really curious how long it takes for your brake pulsating to come back... it seems to be around ~4 months for it to return after new rotors/resurfacing. I've been chasing the issue forever. I'm doing a full caliper rebuild when the weather cools off, slee stainless hoses, booster motor rebuild, and we give the wheelbearings some love while I'm in there.

 

[TheForger]

I'd be really curious how long it takes for your brake pulsating to come back... it seems to be around ~4 months for it to return after new rotors/resurfacing. I've been chasing the issue forever. I'm doing a full caliper rebuild when the weather cools off, slee stainless hoses, booster motor rebuild, and we give the wheelbearings some love while I'm in there.

Well damn I was kinda hoping never I didn't do a full tear down on my caliper because it wasn't needed, but I could tell they were in good shape. Replaced probably 70k miles ago (I'll correct this at a later date when I have exact numbers). Brake MC sounds good and primes within spec. I just figured my pulsating was caused by the hub not turning true with the axle, and instead wobbling on the end of it due to loose bearings and axle nuts. I plan to keep an eye on it and check breakaway pretty regularly so I'm hoping to avoid those symptoms from reemerging.

I'm convinced the stainless brake lines will make a slightly noticeable improvement. Since rubber hoses love to expand when pressurized and the stainless ones won't quite as much, I feel like you'll get more consistent brake feel throughout the stopping/slowing motion and you will be able to feel this improvement through the brake pedal. Maybe...maybe not I dunno. Anyone else have first hand experience with stainless brake lines? I found quite a few people installing them, but not a lot of long term feedback in my searches.

 

[JunkCrzr89]

However, we need some more detail on the axles puller! I wanna build one for when I got through in about 1k miles and recheck everything and throw some more grease in there (as needed). Can you provide other pics and dimensions and how you get it working properly?!

Mine was very rudimentary but it worked great, don't over think it hah. I don't have any more pics of it but here's a quick drawing. IIRC the square head bolts were 2 1/4" long and the M8 x 1.25 axle bolt was 2" long (maybe 1 3/4"?). I would first thread the axle bolts in a few good turns, then position the outer bolts on the ends of the hub bolts and tighten the nuts on the other side until it was all snug. Then I would begin tightening the nuts on each side small increments at a time going back and forth. Towards the end I did have to tighten the axle bolt a little more to give it some extra pull. I would also leave it to sit for about 5min to let the fresh grease in the spindle bearings squeeze into all the nooks and crannies and then try tightening some more. Then just measure the snap ring groove on the axle and install the appropriately sized ring. Hope this helps. I would highly recommend cutting it down to a more manageable length especially if you're doing this by yourself or else it'll always want to slide off the hub bolts. Also you might want to use washers to avoid crushing the tubing.

View attachment 2392383

View attachment 2392386

I’ll try to grab a photo of mine later, but I made a similar tool out of 1/4” thick steel flat bar. The pro of the flat bar is that you don’t have the collapse that @TheForger encountered with his square tubing. The con is that you have to constantly ensure that the 2 outer bolts are staying at an even length to the hub flange; if you don’t, the bolts will bend because the flat bar only has 1/4” structural surface. Not a big deal because class 8.8 bolts are cheap, but 10.9 probably wouldn’t bend. The square tubing that Forger used provided more support for the bolt, which presumably prevents bending. Similar to Forger, I also left my bar long (about 12” total length) so that I could use it to easily turn the hub assembly if needed.

 

[Somebodyelse5]

Well damn I was kinda hoping never I didn't do a full tear down on my caliper because it wasn't needed, but I could tell they were in good shape. Replaced probably 70k miles ago (I'll correct this at a later date when I have exact numbers). Brake MC sounds good and primes within spec. I just figured my pulsating was caused by the hub not turning true with the axle, and instead wobbling on the end of it due to loose bearings and axle nuts. I plan to keep an eye on it and check breakaway pretty regularly so I'm hoping to avoid those symptoms from reemerging.

I'm convinced the stainless brake lines will make a slightly noticeable improvement. Since rubber hoses love to expand when pressurized and the stainless ones won't quite as much, I feel like you'll get more consistent brake feel throughout the stopping/slowing motion and you will be able to feel this improvement through the brake pedal. Maybe...maybe not I dunno. Anyone else have first hand experience with stainless brake lines? I found quite a few people installing them, but not a lot of long term feedback in my searches.

Yeah, last time I did this I had the same feeling.... and then it came back.... I've heard that as rubber lines degrade they can expand more and some folks report some pulsating brake pedal feel as a symptom. Some folks say the guide pins are the culprit, some folks say the rotors warp (but, I have yet to see any runout measurements to support this, my gut is on some material property change/diffusion based on prolonged braking to a stop where the pads rest on a single location... I think it's going to end up being a combination of things, and for the record I don't think the booster is part of this issue (I just figure worth mentioning to folks that plan to crack the system open... good time to pull the motor and send it off for a $300 rebuild).

When I dive into my rebuild I'm hoping to get an indicator on the rotors and measure the runout, measure the caliper holes where the guide pins ride, the guide pins themselves (the last set I replaced were about ~.003 out of round and the new set were round with what I can measure... i don't have a c-mic set).

 

[Somebodyelse5]

I’ll try to grab a photo of mine later, but I made a similar tool out of 1/4” thick steel flat bar. The pro of the flat bar is that you don’t have the collapse that @TheForger encountered with his square tubing. The con is that you have to constantly ensure that the 2 outer bolts are staying at an even length to the hub flange; if you don’t, the bolts will bend because the flat bar only has 1/4” structural surface. Not a big deal because class 8.8 bolts are cheap, but 10.9 probably wouldn’t bend. The square tubing that Forger used provided more support for the bolt, which presumably prevents bending. Similar to Forger, I also left my bar long (about 12” total length) so that I could use it to easily turn the hub assembly if needed.

you mean, like this

somewhere along the line it bent because it's mild steel and because someone gave er to much wah

 

[JunkCrzr89]

you mean, like this
View attachment 2392484

somewhere along the line it bent because it's mild steel and because someone gave er to much wah

Yup! How the hell did you bend it

 

[ramangain]

chinesium

119 on the periodic chart? Nobel prize!