The left front wheel bearing started whining (well, actually - growling) like my ex wife the other day and, like my ex wife, it needed to be replaced. I've been driving on the street for 47 years and have been working on cars for about 50 years so I was used to popping off the front wheel, prying out the seal and driving the wheel bearing out and, in reverse order, reinstalling the new parts. All for about 20 bucks per wheel. Not in a 2008 Ford Ranger.

If anyone happens to bump in to the Ford engineer who designed the front end on my Ranger - please give him a big 'dope slap' for me. In fact, give him two.

I picked up a pair of Moog hub/bearing assemblies for $162.00 (ea). Ah, a good old American company. Nope. When I opened the box the first thing that I saw was "Made in Korea". Oh well - as long they're from the South and not from the North I guess that it's OK. After all, they're allies of ours. Anyway, I got into it - pulled off the 32mm hub nuts ( I'd read in the Ford shop manual that I needed to replace them with 'new', so I took the other car to the Ford dealership. Parts told me that they never stocked the part. The mechanic told me that he always reinstalled the old nuts without a problem. So, I headed back home.

I took off the brake hardware (calipers) and went to work on the rotors. 5 years and 100,000 miles of driving in good old New England salt and sand and I found that the rotors were rusted to the hub and were tighter than a frog's a-hole. In fact, I couldn't have done a better job with a welder. Out came the rubber hammer, then, the bronze hammer, then, the 5LB sledge! Yes, I also used a can of penetrating oil.

Back into the other car and off to the autoparts store for new rotors @ $55.00 (ea). Hmm, Centrix rotors. The guy behind the counter said that they've had good luck with them and they're made in the good, old US of A. On the way out of the store I looked at the end of the box - "Made in China". Oh well.

I got back home and installed it all. If I don't count the multiple trips to the autoparts store and to the Ford garage. Jacking the truck up and putting all of the tools away after doing the work - it took about 1 hour per wheel to replace the bearing/hub assemblies. The total cost was a shade less than $450.00 - far less than getting rid of my ex wife but a lot more than replacing the wheel bearings on, say, my old 1963 Pontiac Tempest convertible.

So, again, if you see the Ford engineer - you know what to do to him. If you see my ex wife, don't mention that I put money into the Ford, otherwise she'll be back for more.

 

i hope you applied a thin coating of anti seize to the new hub face before you slid the new rotor on

 

Yep! It's common practice now with many many vehicles....it's cheaper for them to produce/obtain a sealed non-serviceable bearing/hub assembly than it is to have a spindle, bearings, and a hub.

Those CV shaft nuts.....I've read that before too. Yet I've never replaced mine and they've been on and off probably almost a dozen times. Haha.

By the way...I really enjoyed the side commentary in your post. Entertaining! I too want to punch a few engineers who design things poorly. Luckily these Rangers are pretty easy going working on them.


Why? They're not like that from the factory... Quick tap of the mallet and she's off.

 

living in the rust belt areas like i do ( that inlcudes ontario )
applying a thin coat of anti seize to the hub face is necessary to prevent the rust welding of 2 different parts together

i have delt with rusted on brake rotors , and they are serious pain to deal with