Hey guys, great forum! I can usually find anything I need to have answered but this stupid wheel bearing is kicking my ****.

I have a 99 3.0L 4x4 and I think the right front wheel bearing is the culprit of the whining. I have about 123K on the clock so my friend said replace, while I did find a few people here saying just to repack.

If I repalce and just buy the bearings (not the uber expensive hubs) do I need to have them pressed out and back in the hubs? Do you think I might as well do both sides too, even though the LH isn't whining?

In reading through this forum I have found a couple of other things to do while she is up in the air. Could be a long Memorial day weekend under the truck!

Thanks in advance!

 

The wheel bearings on a 98-up 4x4 are non-serviceable. They can only be replaced with new units.

 

^^yea.

 

thats how all new bearings are. Not like the good ol' bearings on the TTB rangers.

 

Well they are cheap enough anyway, so I guess I don't have a choice! :)

Do they need to be pressed out and in by a machine or can it be done by hand?

 

the hub/wheel bearing unit is held to the knuckle with 3 bolts. No press needed.

 

Ok, so after doing some searching I was lead astray by Oreilly's site, probably my own fault.

You cannot replace just the bearing, correct? You must replace the whole hub. 3 bolts hold the whole hub on. Like this:

Wow, this just got expensive. I think it is on the RH that is squeeling, is this like brake pads, always replace both sides? Anybody know of anyplace cheap to get this/ these from?

 

If you don't replace it, this will happen.

 

Oh it's not a matter of if it is getting repalced or not, just trying to figure out what I am in for.

That doesn't look plesant though. I imagine the wheel stops moving at that point?

 

I believe at that point his wheel flew off the truck and went rolling on down the highway, leaving his truck sitting on 3 wheels on the side of the road.



About the hubs, no you cannot just replace the bearings. You must replace the entire unit, and they ain't cheap. They are easy to replace though.

 

Didn't quite fall off. The CV axle was holding everything together.

 

How long after that one failed did the other side go or get replaced? Or did you do them both at the same time?

Do you remember how many miles that was at?

 

Thanks for all the help! I found the hubs w4wheel ABS on eBay for about $135 each + shipping. So I got 2 shipped for the price of 1 from O'Reillys'/ Auto Zone.

A good friend of mine said he has done an Explorer and it was pretty easy. I hope all we have to worry about is rusty fasteners.

Figure this is also a good time to check brakes and replace if needed. I know teh system could use bleeding too! Anyting else you recommend checking while we're in there?

 

Super easy to do. I swapped my stock ones over to my superlift knuckles. Really really easy to do. buzz off 3 bolts, and buzz on the new one. easy. Mine was superduper easy due to the knuckles being on the ground, off the truck.

Impact made the job super easy.

 

i did mine but the auto hubs wont work because of vaccum hub sso i got the manuel hubs and i got my bearings off ebay

 

to lock in the 4x4