Front Wheel Bearing

[TechGuru]

My left front wheel bearing is not loose yet but I can feel it grinding in the steering wheel enough to make my fingers numb on a long drive.

I am not in a position to afford a SKF or Motorcraft right now.

Does anyone have any good/bad experiences with any of the following that I can afford?

 

[ROBinGa]

Originally responded I had never heard of these but - just went in garage and found old box that I bought 2 of the WJB HD ones that are very first on your list. I didn’t remember the brand but these are the exact ones I bought and been fine since 2015

I would approach the $60 hubs as potentially disposable if you have to do this again in a couple years and don’t give it a second thought. But I will offer this tip. Carefully remove your existing ABS sensor wire and save it in case the new one you get with new part doesn’t work and throws codes. That is what happened to me and I luckily had not tossed the original Motorcraft wire set. Installed it on new hub and the code instantly went away.

 

[ROBinGa]

It’s been at least 30,000 miles on those WJB hubs

 

[imp]

My left front wheel bearing is not loose yet but I can feel it grinding in the steering wheel enough to make my fingers numb on a long drive.

I am not in a position to afford a SKF or Motorcraft right now.

Does anyone have any good/bad experiences with any of the following that I can afford?

@TechGuru
Are you certain it is a wheel bearing making the noise? Does the noise change/go away when making a sharp turn at fair speed? This maneuver "throws" more weight on one wheel while relieving some from the other, often enough to relieve the noise completely. If the noise remains the same when turning either way, it may not be a wheel bearing causing it. Just my 2 cents. imp

 

[TechGuru]

@TechGuru
Are you certain it is a wheel bearing making the noise? Does the noise change/go away when making a sharp turn at fair speed? This maneuver "throws" more weight on one wheel while relieving some from the other, often enough to relieve the noise completely. If the noise remains the same when turning either way, it may not be a wheel bearing causing it. Just my 2 cents. imp

I don't hear anything as much as I feel it in the steering wheel, the high frequency vibe makes my fingers numb.

We put it in 4x4 high while on a lift and the left front spun twice as fast as everything else while my right front barely turned on it's own because a good bearing has more drag. It was also had the dry bearing sound to it. This also showed how much I need to add a LSD to the front diff, lol.

Tires are brand new.

 

[03ExploKRV]

I put the Moog's on mine and haven't had any issues. I wouldn't skimp on something like this. Pay a little more for a quality part and don't worry about it afterwords.

 

[TechGuru]

I put the Moog's on mine and haven't had any issues.

Thanks but Moog is in the same price range (>$100) as Motorcraft and SKF.

BTW, I thought I'd mention to everyone and any future visitors that while going though every single one RockAuto sells and seeing all the rather short warranties like Motorcraft's being 24 months, SKF's being 36 months and Moog's being 36 months I noticed that RAYBESTOS has a LIFETIME warranty...

 

[domct203]

FWIW

I bought my Moog 515050 on eBay for $70 each.

 

[TechGuru]

BTW, is it ok to reuse the axle nut in the front since it does not really hold anything on (2WD models don't have one)...

 

[XploX]

I suppose you could re-use the axle nut but, for only a few dollars, it a no-brainer. They are torque to yield nuts.

I used the MOOG hubs, and have put approximately 35,000 miles on them without issue.
I did replace the upper and lower ball joints with the Mevotech, and they have been great. I got the heavy duty.
I would think their other parts would meet the same high standards but, they do cost less.

Edit:
I just noticed that the Mevotech aren't listed for 4WD or AWD.

 

[Number4]

My local Ford dealer had to order me an axle nut, what does that tell you?

And they aren’t a small dealership.

 

[TechGuru]

My local Ford dealer had to order me an axle nut, what does that tell you?

And they aren’t a small dealership.

I'm sure NAPA has them on hand, just need the specs...

 

[imp]

BTW, is it ok to reuse the axle nut in the front since it does not really hold anything on (2WD models don't have one)...

@TechGuru
I re-used mine with no derog. Been about 50K miles now. But, I'll get some flack for saying it. So, I'm not recommending it, only telling how I saw things. imp

 

[imp]

I suppose you could re-use the axle nut but, for only a few dollars, it a no-brainer. They are torque to yield nuts........

@XploX
Please explain where you obtained this information. I would really like to learn how a "torque to yield" nut works. In what way can a nut yield??

When you tighten a BOLT until it yields, that simply means it has stretched permanently. If not yielded, the bolt returns to original length when un-tightened.

But a nut?? imp

 

[Number4]

Probably meaning they are a prevailing torque lock nut. If I recall correctly, they are slightly out of round so as not to back off. Lock nut without any nylon.

 

[TechGuru]

BTW, what size socket is the front nut? The rear is 35mm, but the front "looks" smaller...

 

[ROBinGa]

The axle nut on my F150 has printed on it that it is one time use. That is not the case on Explorer. Wouldn’t be bad to put on a new nut but I didn’t and it’s been at least 30,000 miles on both front axle nuts.

If you haven’t watched already this YouTube by FordTechMakuloco is awesome for this job. He doesn’t replace axle nut either. My only comment about video is he immediately cuts the ABS sensor wires when taking off old hub and I would recommend removing yours in case you need it. One of my WJB hubs wires was bad and I repurposed old ABS wire.


He says 32mm in the video

 

[imp]

Probably meaning they are a prevailing torque lock nut. If I recall correctly, they are slightly out of round so as not to back off. Lock nut without any nylon.

@Number4
Exactly. They are self-locking nuts which have a crimped-over outer edge which tightens into the axle thread. imp

 

[TechGuru]

Originally responded I had never heard of these but - just went in garage and found old box that I bought 2 of the WJB HD ones that are very first on your list. I didn’t remember the brand but these are the exact ones I bought and been fine since 2015

I would approach the $60 hubs as potentially disposable if you have to do this again in a couple years and don’t give it a second thought. But I will offer this tip. Carefully remove your existing ABS sensor wire and save it in case the new one you get with new part doesn’t work and throws codes. That is what happened to me and I luckily had not tossed the original Motorcraft wire set. Installed it on new hub and the code instantly went away.

Did you reuse your factory bolts or use the bolts that came with the HUB? I ask because I am not seeing any grade marks to on the bolts that came with the HUB.

 

[ROBinGa]

Just went to that box for WJB hubs I still have in garage and still have the two bags of the light grey bolts they sent that has the yellow goop in threads for loctite. I didn’t like the looks of them apprantly and reused the factory ones and applied my own blue loctite. I found my notes I have on a legal pad for all my projects and show that at the step to install the hub I torqued the bolts to 90 foot pounds