Rear wheel bearing experts - opinion needed.

[Explorer_PL]

I am chasing a howling/growling noise in my expl. I was suspecting now rear wheel bearing so I removed the left rear knuckle and took it to a shop where I have always taken it in the past. Unfortunately for me, their senior guy who does it was out. They gave it to some other tech. They call me - it's done. I pick it up and see that the rear metal seal/ring is detached partially and someone tried to hammer it back. And the hub is wobbling in the bearing. I gave it back to them, they ordered a new bearing and pressed it in again. This time, it looks good, but again, I take it in my hands and I can wobble the hub !!!! I show it to the guy and he says and insists that this is normal and once I put the axle nut, it will be good. I am royally pissed because I have done those bearings at least 4-5 times, and it was always tight when new. I put it back together, took it for a drive, so far it is quiet but somehow I do not have a good feeling about that.
Question is if some play is acceptable with those bearings ?

I always used Timken, not sure what they used as a replacement.

 

[michael loibl]

I wish I could help you, but for some reason my 2006 Eddie is still running on all it's original wheel bearings without any noises!
Just out of curiosity, what made you have a shop do it this time after having done it yourself several times in the past?

 

[Explorer_PL]

When I said I did them, I meant I removed the knuckle and shop did the pressing.
I am thinking of buying a press now

 

[Explorer_PL]

What I do is get Timken 516008 for about $ 50, and they do it for another $ 50.

$100 beats $ 400-450 shops charge for the entire job.

Emergency brake is the biggest pain to put it back together.

 

[michael loibl]

And just think, once you buy the press, you'll never have to do the bearings ever again!
I really have to wonder why I'm still on original bearings, despite towing the camper and frequently running rear axle about 300 pounds over GAWR.
My sister also has an explorer and they do at least one if the bearings each year

 

[Explorer_PL]

I do between 70 and 100 miles a day every day. They just last x number of miles, I think towing a trailer does not help either. And I am sure I did not always torque them properly.

 

[michael loibl]

Miles must be the difference... My Eddie goes less than 70 miles some WEEKS! Then we go on a long trip to canada, or Cape May, or Vermont and make up for it!
It just turned 98,000 miles. My sisters XLT is just over 200,000

 

[Explorer_PL]

Just turned 215,000.
My wife has a newer Murano that has much smother comfy ride but kids just prefer my Expl. It's dedicated family trip vehicle and my commuter. I've noticed that the bearings usually last 75-100k, sometimes less.

 

[Many3rdgens]

Buy a press. I did and now that I have done them once, they are not that bad. And i have found all sorts of other things to press/smash now that i have one. The hardest part is judging the depth of how far to press the new hubs in, or maybe the hardest part is waiting for the pop when pressing the old hub out. Get yourself a large brake rotor like from a superduty and torch/cut the mounting face off of it and you have a perfect holder for the knuckle. Saw that in a YouTube video and it works great. They should be pretty tight when first pressed. Does the wheel wobble once reassembled? On all of mine, third and fourth gens, they have been every 100k to 150k in the rear.

 

[Explorer_PL]

Yep, the press is in my future. But after replacing all 4 bearings around, the noise was still there. Put it up in the air, got it to about 50-60 mph and the front diff was growling so I was going to replace that with a used one. I stopped by a tranny shop just to confirm my findings and said that it is transfer case output bearing and the vibration just goes thru the driveshaft to the front.

So I am looking at a new/used TC now.

PS: When I got it, it was wobbling. I put it on, tighten the nut and it pressed the hub deeper and is solid now, but he screwed it up. This thing will not last too long. I ma pretty sure he did not support the inner race when pressing in the hub so he damaged it already.

Funny as it was, when I took it in my hands and showed it to him that I can wiggle the hub in the bearing, he said " do not do that, or you will break it". And I said that if I can break a bearing with my hands then what a 5000 lbs truck will do to it. That guy lost my respect - sorry.

 

[Many3rdgens]

I used a combination of cut up races from other bearings to support the inner races. It was a bit tedious at first. I do advise buying an extra hub/bearing set when doing them the first time. It is quite easy to press the bearings apart if you don't support or the hub goes in a bit crooked. I think there is a healthy market for someone to buy up all the knuckles from the junk yard and refurbish them and sell them on an exchange basis, but I am way too busy to start that up.

 

[Explorer_PL]

Someone is doing it on eBay. Whole knuckle with new hub and bearing for $ 395 I believe.