Bad hub assembly? Bad luck? or... what else???

[cloud2or3]

I'll try to be brief...

2006 Explorer Eddie Bauer 4.6L
Bought used 1+ year ago with 142000km

Noisy front drivers bearing right off the bat. Turning left = Silence, Turning Right = Noisey, going straight = humming.

Replaced with BCA bearing, that seemed to be 'good' for a week or 2, and never got as noisy as the one it replaced. Less noticeable but same issues as the initial hub assembly. Give it a year, I'm sure it would be worse.

Never the less, I replaced it with a FORD ORIGINAL Bearing. The Ford part is doing the same. Now that I'm in-tune to it... I know its present.

Just bad hub assembly's? Bad luck? or... what else??? Alignment? CV Joint?

Chasing a gremlin here...

Thanks!

 

[Explorer_PL]

Very unlikely the bearing is bad. Did you try rotating the tires ?
Also, very often a noise from rear bearings or transfer case or driveshaft u-joints will travel all around and make you 10000% sure it's the front hub while it's something else, done that too many times.

 

[cloud2or3]

Very unlikely the bearing is bad. Did you try rotating the tires ?
Also, very often a noise from rear bearings or transfer case or driveshaft u-joints will travel all around and make you 10000% sure it's the front hub while it's something else, done that too many times.

Since I bought the vehicle (Nov 2017), I had the original wheels and tires until spring 2018. Then I bought 20" rims and summer tires. And now have new snow tires back on the original rims. All mounted and balanced properly. I dont think the original rims actually made it back to the same location (ie drivers side front, etc.) but I guess I can't be certain of that.

The vehicle was looked at a couple times by different mechanics, all concluded the bearing/hub was the issue. Yes, I agree... sometimes this can be a quick judgement maybe by some mechanics, so that is why I'm trying to get some input from you guys here. When we had the truck up on the hoist... you could hear it.

When we removed it, the BCA hub assembly was difficult to spin by hand.

I am quite certain that the problem lies with the hub, I'm just wondering if there is anything that can possibly make a hub fail prematurely. I paid for/seeked out quality hubs. Next will probably be the SKF, I guess.

I hate noises on my vehicle...

 

[Tech By Trade]

Did you torque the CV nut to 183 ft lbs or did you hit it with a impact?

 

[dacaur2]

too much wheel offset (too little backspacing) or wheel spacers will put extra stress on a hub, but I would guess it would have to be pretty extreme to make a quality hub fail in just months...

 

[cloud2or3]

Did you torque the CV nut to 183 ft lbs or did you hit it with a impact?

Torque wrench, as far as I know was torqued to 184. You say 183... Whats the source for the 183? Do different brands carry different torque specs?


06-10 Explorer Hub install
At 12:42 states 184ft/lbs

 

[Explorer_PL]

183, 184 - same thing
The question Tech asked was about using impact gun, and those can generate 400-500 lb ft of torque. That crushes the bearing internally and it fails shortly.