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Ford Explorer Community - Maintenance - Modifications - Performance Upgrades - Problem Solving - Off-Road - Street
Explorer Forum Covers the Explorer ST, Explorer Sport, Explorer Sport Trac, Lincoln Aviator, Mercury Mountaineer, Mazda Navajo, Ford Ranger, Mazda Pickups, and the Ford Aerostar
can any one tell me the sure fire way to replace the front hubs ??? I have a 98 Explorer with a rubbing noise in the front passenger area and have been told that it is most likly a hub assembly! Any help would be very thankful .
How come everyone I talk to tries to sell me a 240.00 "hub assembly"??? If all I have to do is pull it apart and clean it that would be great!! I got this rubbing noise coming from the front right ,I see the half shaft ,I see the CV's something is rubbing and something most keep the spindle in line...???!!!
Any info would help!
The spindle is kept in line by a massive bearing assembly. The hub is made up of a huge bearing about 3-4 inches in diameter (can't remember exactly). If it's the same as mine, I don't think the bearing will wear out in a hurry. The shaft goes through this which has a spline on it and enters the part with the five studs on it. You need to take the disc off and undo the large nut that holds it all together. This should allow you to pull it apart and see if anything is wrong. If you take the large nut off, make sure you have a large torque wrench (over 200 ft pounds to tighten) and you might want to replace the nut also. The Haynes's manual says it is a torque once only nut. You don't want the nut coming loose after not assembling properly. Make sure you loctite everything you take off. I forgot to loctite a caliper bolt and it came off causing havoc.
Originally posted by jimabena74 um you dont have a hub assembly on your truck... it is connected directly to the CV and is a non serviceable piece without replacing the whole thing
Yeah don't listen to jim, he has no idea what he is talking about.
You DO have a hub assembly.
I just replaced one of mine this past weekend, you hav e to remove the spindle nut, rotor, and caliper. Once these are removed there are 3 bolts that hold the hub on from the rear.
I pulled the hubs when I did lower ball joints. Can't fel anything wrong when they are out. Hate to pay $250 just to experiment. Who has them that price? Autozone and Advance don't list them, thought I'd have to go to Ford. There is a dust shield on the back side that some get scraping from. Seems from posts that the V8's wear out faster. Like doing a complete brake job pluss 3 extra bolts. If it takes five bolts to hold on a rim, how come the hub only takes three?
Thanks Folks , all that info helps out alot ! I 'm going to get the assembly from carquest(southern auto supply) for 175.00 if I have any question I will let you guys know. Again Thanks Bill
Finish putting on the front hub! Piece of cake!! Bolted it up and had Big O balance the wheels and (as Barbara Streisand would say) "smooth as Buttah"
Actually, Big O busted a few studs and had a rough time getting them so they were nice enough to go ahead and install the hub FREE! I wanted to do it but seeing how they stripped out the lugs I couldn't get the wheel off any way. But it still would have been easy. The noise is gone. And I'm happy thats all it was. The part was 173.73 at carquest, but they were closed so Kragen match the price W/ 10% less. Thanks everyone for your help,
I got mine at Advance Auto. One of them was only $90, but a couple months later when I replaced the other they had jacked the price up to umm $150 I think.
What are they smoking? Got a Timken for $140, same as came from the factory and it even came with the sensor, from a local parts house. That was the walk in price. I stuck in the old sensor and now I have a new spare. Old hub feels fine but the tire would jump in when I jacked it up. Hopefully this solves the tire wear problem without an alignment. Going to press apart the old one to see what was happening.
