97 XLT 2WD Front Wheel Bearings

[nitsocymmot]

Hi folks, I've got to replace the wheel bearings in the front of my XLT, I have no particular desire to do it myself, as I'm a complete amateur and this is my wife's main vehicle that she carries our little boy in. I don't mess with brakes or anything that holds the wheels on the bus, purely for safety reasons, so I want to get it done by a mechanic. A local brake place is telling me that when you replace the bearings, you need to replace the rotors too, and of course they want 400$ for the whole job. Ford $tealer tells me that that's not necessary and they will replace my bearings only for 275$ I'm seeing that most of the cost is in parts for this and I've investigated and know that the parts at my local autoz0ne will be much cheeper. So I have two questions.

1) Do I really need to replace the rotors too if the dealership says they're not warped?

2) I want to supply the parts to my local mechanic, exactly what parts do I need for a complete bearing job?

OK, i guess I have question # 3 Should I consider doing this myself? I don't mind paying for an hour of labor if it will save me four hours of not knowing what I'm doing and needing special tools.

 

[Alec]

You don't need to replace the rotors.

I had a total front bearing and brake job done for $400+. Therefore just a bearing job should be much cheaper, I think mine was $150 broken down.

 

[Opera House]

Do you have the year right?

The story you gave would be correct for a first generation. You might as well replace the disk when replace bearings because this is part of it. Parts w/disk would be less than $100. On a 97, I found the cheapest hub alone was $150 just for the part and you should get a new spindle nut for $10. You have to take every brake part off so you might as well replace some brake parts because there is no extra labor. It takes a prety decent tool set since some bolts are almost 300 ft-lb. Shop should take 2 hours, double that for a first timer. Closer to $500 for one side.

 

[etc]

It's just the 4wd 2nd gens that aren't serviceable. He has 2wd.

 

[BillWms01]

nit,

Could I ask what your symptoms are, to determine you need new wheel bearings? Noise? And, how many miles on your X?

Just wondering since my '97 has ~85kmiles, and don't want to be stranded.

Thanks.

 

[Runnin'OnEmpty]

Yes, nit, what symptoms do you have. It's unusual for the bearings on both sides to go bad, unless you've run through high water, etc.

Properly serviced 2WD bearings should last a LONG time.....